Dissonant Memories
by pixeljam
Summary: When the arrival of an ancient evil goddess causes the gods to start losing their memories, Pit knows that he has to find a way to restore balance. But the adventure won't be easy, even with help from his friends. Even so, he's willing to go all the way around the world if necessary to make sure that everyone is safe. Sequel to Grounded.
1. Chapter 1

If there was one thing Pit absolutely hated about Angel Land, it was the lack of outlets.

Seriously, all he wanted to do was charge his phone. That was it! But instead of being able to plug it into an outlet in the wall like any other totally normal human being, he was stuck with going to Palutena every time he needed a charge. But then again, Pit was not normal nor a human being, so this was honestly his only realistic option. The other option would be to fly down to Earth, find the nearest building, and charge his phone up that way, but again, that was much too complicated.

Pit sighed and stowed his phone away into one of the folds of his toga. It was dead at this point, and only Lady Palutena's light power could charge it. It looked like he needed to pay a visit to Lady Palutena. Again.

Pit slowly walked around his neat room and out the large door. His skin immediately burst into goosebumps. His jaws clenched together as he rubbed his hands over his arms. It really wasn't all the cold, but he had hit a nippy breeze and his body was not happy with him. Winter was on its way. Pit would have to remember to start pulling out his long sleeves and thicker togas as the weeks went on. He wouldn't want to be stuck in the snow in racing gear and a sheet.

He watched as younger angels flew past him in flurries of color. Early morning rush, as usual. The young angels were always in a hurry to make it to wherever they were going. Whether it was battle practice, or gardening, or preparations for the autumnal festival, they were speedily making their way there. Pit, on the other hand, was enjoying his stroll, and really had no need to go any faster. He would eventually end up where he needed to go. He had no one to train today, after all.

Fighting was, of course, the major task young angels chose to take on. The thrill of adventure and the fighting was too much for them to turn down. They were usually only fighting against minor Underworld monsters, but generally they didn't care. Though, there were a few angels who helped take care of Angel Land in other ways. There were always gardens to look after, young angels to teach, and festivals to help prepare for.

He took a long breath of air as he walked along, hands warming in his toga and legs keeping a quick pace. The air was fresh and crisp with the coming of autumn. Leaves blew gently on a warm breeze, flowing over the green grass with almost a chill of excitement. The season's changes were always beautiful, but the fall was one of the largest. Winter became spring very gradually, and spring transitioned to summer slowly in a way that could be unnoticeable. But when autumn came dancing at the angels' doorsteps, the preparations for the changing of heat to chill were taken very seriously by everyone.

Even Pit, which was saying something. He had had a little while to mature, but Pit was still really a child at heart. He adored teaching the younger angels swordplay, archery, and basic flight, and enjoyed learning about each of them as well. But it also made him slightly nostalgic.

"Good morning, Pit!"

Pit turned as a figure landed next to him. "Good morning, Cedar." He smiled at the young female angel, who matched his walking pace as she touched down.

She brushed back a strand of her long brown hair, which had come out of its usual braid. She was a pretty young angel girl, probably only around thirty years old (in human form, she would be around thirteen). She was small and very thin, but she had a knack for flying that probably came from her lack of body weight. "What are you doing today? Are we going to practice fighting? Or shooting? Or how about flying?"

"I'm off-duty today."

"Aw, really?" Her expression became visibly sadder, and her grey and brown primary feathers dropped a little. "I was hoping we could practice."

Pit ruffled the girl's hair good-naturedly. "I'm sure Kestrel would love to help you with your flying today. She's practicing for the Airball Tournament, but by lunch she'll probably be finished."

Cedar tipped her head slightly, contemplating Pit's words. "Okay," she finally said. "But can we practice in a few days, like when the festival is over?"

Pit smiled. "Sure.

"Where are you going then, if you're off duty?"

"To see Lady Palutena."

"Any particular reason?"

"Cedar, what did I tell you about snooping into my affairs?"

The girl sighed and crossed her arms. "It's rude and none of my business, I know, I know." She rolled her dark eyes. "I'm just curious."

"I know you are, and it's good to be curious. Just respect people's privacy, alright?"

Cedar nodded, still looking down. "Alright…so, I'll see you later then?"

"Of course."

"Good!" Cedar grinned widely and threw herself into the air, catching a gust of wind in her beautiful creamy wings and shooting up into the air on the updrafts. Pit waved her goodbye and continued on his way.

At this point, he was passing through the areas of Angel Land that split. The other islands were only about fifteen feet away, but it was large enough to force Pit to abandon his walk and take to the air. He unfurled his long, white wings and leapt into the open air with an inaudible grunt.

The cool wind whipped through his scruffy hair. He would never get tired of the feeling of flying, the air rushing through his hair, pressing against his skin, taking the air from his lungs. He couldn't help but smile, tilting his wings ever so slightly so he cut through the wind with precision. His practice had paid off. He had gone from only taking five minute flights with help from Lady Palutena to being able to fly for extended periods of time without any help at all. His wings were powerful and strong.

He landed on the other side of the crevice and continued his quick stroll. There were no houses here, only large temples to the gods, massive gardens, and huge empty fields that were quickly being filled with tents and stands. Pit watched the angels who were putting the tents and stands up for a moment, observing their work, before he continued on his way. Maybe he would go and help them later, and get a few of his friends to help too. Or maybe Lady Palutena had another job for him.

Finally he walked up to the largest temple. Palutena's temple was in the center of Angel Land. As their patron goddess, her temple was the biggest, as well as the most lavishly decorated. Even Zeus' temple was smaller than Palutena's, though if Palutena didn't directly rule over Angel Land, Zeus' temple would have taken precedence.

Palutena's temple was a beautiful building, constructed entirely of polished white marble and alabaster. Elegant Corinthian columns were edged in gold at the top. But despite its beauty, even the temple itself was being spruced up for the festival. The columns were being polished, and inside Pit could see that large, gold, silk cloths were being draped from the ceiling.

Pit walked inside the temple, dodging angels as they rushed past him. He smiled in amusement at their hurry, and continued his meander to the back of the temple, where it connected to the garden.

The full bloom of the flowers in Palutena's garden was fading with the summer. As the seasons changed, the flowers and plants began to lose their color. But Pit wasn't worried. They would come back, the way they always did, with spring.

Pit found Palutena exactly where he knew he would find her, in the back of the garden, on the large balcony overlook. Her back faced to him, long green hair making up most of her silhouette. Pit stopped about ten feet behind her, getting to one knee and bowing his head. "Lady Palutena."

The woman turned, a smile on her flawless face. Pit smiled back up at her cheerfully. She always managed to make him smile, no matter what. "Good morning, Pit. It's good to see you awake for once."

Pit stood and rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "Yeah, well…I've been working on it. The dreams aren't helping much, though."

"What dreams?"

"Oh, the usual: drowning in Nutella quicksand, singing with rock bands at parades, and the ever present falling to my death but being saved by flying rowboats. You know, the regular stuff."

Both Pit and Palutena managed to keep a straight face for a few seconds before they burst out laughing. Pit hadn't been kidding, his dreams were usually that odd, but saying them out loud made them so much more ridiculous. Palutena nearly cried from laughing so hard. Pit had passed that point half a minute ago.

Finally, the two managed to calm down, though even looking at one another set of fits of giggles for a good minute or so. Palutena managed to straighten up, brushing back a lock of hair that had fallen in front of her face. She smiled widely. "Thank you for that, Pit."

"Always happy to help!"

Palutena turned back to the balcony, motioning for Pit to follow her. He did so, walking up to the edge and looking out over the lower levels of Angel Land. From this point, he could clearly see the airball field, where Kestrel and her team were practicing, and the archery range.

Palutena smiled gently. "She's doing quite well, isn't she?"

Pit followed her gaze to the archery range where a shoot off was occurring. He knew immediately who she was talking about, and his eyes found the right figure in moments. All he could see was the top of her head, a rich golden blonde that shone from the bright sunlight. Her wings were tight against her back. He could easily tell that she was not comfortable with the bow she was aiming. She held it stiffly, rigid, with no sense of ease or skill. And when she let the arrow fly, it hit the target, but barely.

Pit winced. "With a bow, she could use a little work."

"I meant in her persistence. She's been here practicing all morning, and morning before that, and basically over the past week. She wants to make a good impression at the festival."

"She doesn't have to make a good impression with a bow!" Pit protested. "She's fine the way she is!"

Palutena frowned a little. "Pit, this may be hard for you to hear, but even Kaitlyn understands that she's not a normal angel. Her choice of weapons is more than unorthodox, it's unheard of."

"I use a gun…kind of…"

"Anything you use has magical properties. In fact, all angels use weapons with magical properties. Kaitlyn is…well…unique in that way. The problem, Pit, is that we don't know how the other angels will react to her, or how they will treat her. Of course we'll be trying to protect her in case anything gets rough, but there are some angels who won't take to Kaitlyn in the way we do. Kaitlyn is a human by blood and an angel through magic. I didn't create her the way I created you and the other angels."

"So you're telling me that the other angels might not like her because she's different?" Pit asked, getting steadily angrier.

Palutena nodded. "Most of the angels here have accepted her. The centurions find nothing wrong with her, even if she uses rifles and pistols rather than bows and palms. There are a few angels here who I am sad to say have not welcomed her, and we've had to work through that as well."

"There have?"

"Yes. But Kaitlyn is strong, and she and I have worked through those problems as they've come up." Palutena sighed before looking at Pit with a raised eyebrow. "So, why did you come to see me in the first place?"

Pit pulled his cellphone from his toga. It was nothing special, a regular flip phone with no extra gadgets or anything of the sort. He grinned sheepishly and held it out to her. "I was up late talking to Jenny last night, and I kind of ran out of batteries…again…"

Palutena smiled and took it in her hands. A muttered incantation was all she needed to do and the flashing energy bar on the front of the phone was quickly filled.

"Thanks!" Pit slipped the phone back into his robe. "So, about the preparations for the festival…when are the angels from Pallasa coming?"

"In four days," Palutena said, smiling a little. "It'll be good to see the older angels again. It's been a while."

Pit shrugged. "I've never met them before, so I'm really excited! What are we planning for events?"

"The usual: archery, discus and javelin throw, running, flight, wrestling, and sword fighting." Palutena smiled at him. "Any idea of what you want to enter?"

"Archery, definitely!" Pit said immediately. "And maybe sword fighting. Those are my favorites, and I'd say I'm pretty good at them too!"

"Indeed, you are!" Palutena laughed. "If you want to enter them, you'd better go talk to Nighthawk about it. He's in charge of setting up all the events."

"I'm not surprised."

Palutena turned back to watch Kaitlyn's archery practice, and Pit did the same. Kaitlyn was nothing but determined when it came to archery. Pit had tried on multiple occasions to teach her to use the bow properly, but she just couldn't get the hang of it. Finally she set down the bow and pulled the rifle off her back, where it usually hung nestled between her wings. She took half a second to aim and pulled the trigger. In a bang that caused birds to flee from their perches in flight, the bullet shot across the archery range and thudded into the target.

Nearly a perfect bulls-eye.

Kaitlyn, obviously pleased with herself, locked the safety and swung the gun over her shoulder once again, where it hung.

Pit shot a glance at Palutena, who visibly sighed. It was clear she was proud of Kaitlyn, but her spring green eyes betrayed her fear. Though, what she was afraid of confused Pit. Was Kaitlyn that dangerous, or was she in danger?

Palutena composed herself and turned away from the balcony. "Pit, why don't you go get Kaitlyn and you both go and see Nighthawk? I'm sure he'd be happy to find jobs for you. After all, the festival starts in five days!"

"Will do!" Pit said, straightening into a salute.

The goddess smiled. "Good. I'll let you head down there, and I'll see you in a few days."

"See you then!" Pit threw himself off the balcony, extending his wings so they caught the air. He hardly had to flap them in any way, simply maneuvering down on the drafts until he landed on the archery range.

Kaitlyn didn't walk over to him immediately, but smiled at him from across the range. Forest green eyes met his pure blue, and the young woman smiled. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, falling in waves down her back, covering the barrel of her rifle. "You're awake," she said sharply, raising an eyebrow. "Since when does that happen?"

Pit grinned. "Since we have a festival to get ready for!" He walked up to her, giving her a tight hug. "So," he said, pulling away, "are you ready to meet the other angels?"

Kaitlyn shrugged. Her spare strands of hair tickled Pit's face. Kaitlyn was still rather short, only coming up to about Pit's nose in height. Pit was sure she would grow more, but Kaitlyn had told him that she was probably done growing, and if anything, Pit would continue to get taller. "I don't know," she said. "I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be." She shot an annoyed look at the bow she had been holding earlier, now tossed rather unceremoniously on the dirt. "I'm never going to get a hand of it, am I…?"

"I'm sure you'll get it eventually!" Pit said encouragingly.

Kaitlyn shook her head. "I doubt it, but thanks for the encouragement. So, what were you and Lady Palutena talking about up there?"

"Just the festival, and everything that's going on to get ready for it. She said I was supposed to take you with me to go and see Nighthawk. Apparently he'll give us our assignments."

"Sounds good," Kaitlyn said. "Where is he at the moment?"

Pit thought for a moment. "Probably in the residential district somewhere. If not, then in one of the fields."

Kaitlyn nodded and unfurled her wings to take flight. They were beautiful wings, covered with blue feathers, streaked with black, white, and grey. They perfectly mimicked a blue jay's wing pattern. The other angels had mostly been named after birds, so Kaitlyn's affectionate nickname among the other angels was "Blue".

The two set off to the higher Angel Land islands. Thankfully there were heavy updrafts, and Kaitlyn didn't need much help getting up. Kaitlyn, unlike Pit, was still a little shaky on her wings, and grew tired of flying relatively easily. Pit wasn't surprised. After all, Kaitlyn hadn't been born with her wings, and that made her much less steady in the air. Her entire body structure wasn't built the same as an angel's, but what she lacked in flight power, she made up in with her physical strength. Because her bones were thicker and her muscles larger, she was physically much stronger than most of the angels, a feat of which she was very proud. It had been three years since she had been turned into an angel, three human years. In angel years, it had been much, much longer.

The two landed in the residential district of Angel Land, on the edge. The sun was finally starting to warm up the air, and angels were taking advantage of this fact to tending to small gardens while there was still sun to do so. Lady Palutena had ordered that Angel Land be cleaned up and look as nice as possible for the festival, and the angels were taking her words very seriously.

"So," Kaitlyn said as they began to walk around, "why are we having a festival in the first place? Nothing like this has happened since I've been here."

"They're not very often, really," Pit replied, keeping his eyes open in case he should happen to see his best friend walking around giving orders. "In fact, we never really see anyone else from the Skyworld around here. After all, Angel Land is only really for young angels. The adult angels live in Pallasa, Corinthia, and a few other places. Centurions are from other places, and the higher order of gods live in Mount Olympus. So this is one of the few times we get to see the older angels at all."

"Why do the adult angels live somewhere other than Angel Land?" Kaitlyn asked.

"Well, Angel Land is here especially for the training of newborn and young angels. When we get older, we're sent to one of the other cities and put to other tasks, like protecting important gods or humans."

Kaitlyn nodded. "Makes sense, I guess. I'm going to miss this place, though."

"Me too," Pit said, smiling a little. "It's the only home I've ever had, so it's a kind of near and dear to my heart."

The young woman giggled a little, flashing Pit with her brilliant smile. Pit grinned back, before nodding to the large building in the center of the residential district. "Nighthawk must be in there."

"How can you be sure?"

"About ten angels just came out of there so fast you'd think the building is burning. And that probably means that Nighthawk is giving out orders."

The two of them wore amused expressions as they entered the large marble building. Just as Pit had guesses, his friend stood in the middle of the large entry room, surrounded by a flock of angels. He was yelling something, holding up a clipboard and pointing at various angels. They nodded fervently at him and flew out of the room in flashes of multicolored feathers. Pit watched them go, and he and Kaitlyn waited patiently for Nighthawk to finish before approaching him.

Nighthawk stood in the center of the room, muttering to himself as he tapped his clipboard. His dark wings hung at his sides as he paced back and forth, muscles twitching anxiously. His eyebrows were furrowed, and every once in a while, he ran a hand through his short, ebony hair. His ambery-gold eyes flitted back and forth, jerking up to look at Pit and Kaitlyn when they drew near.

"Finally!" He said loudly, his eyes narrowing in annoyance. "Do you know how much help I've needed from you two? We have to finish cleaning the streets, set up tents, get all of the sporting areas ready, find accommodations for everyone and get all of that set up, and have it all done within the next three days! Do you guys know how much stress I'm under?!"

Pit gave a small smile and grabbed his friend around the shoulder into a tight hug. "Nighthawk, chill out! It'll be fine, I'm sure. Lady Palutena wouldn't have given you the job of getting everything ready if she didn't think you could do it."

Nighthawk's thin lips pinched together and he nodded slowly. "I know, I know. I'm just not very happy with the help I've been getting. All of the new angels are flighty and jumpy and less than able when it comes to fixing and building. All I can do with them is put them on cleaning up the streets and fields. But halfway through, I always seem to find them slacking off on their work and practicing their fighting instead!"

Pit and Kaitlyn looked at one another for a moment. Kaitlyn gave Nighthawk a warm smile. "Well, we're here to help now, and to sign up for some of the events."

"Oh, alright." Nighthawk flipped through his clipboard to another piece of paper. "What are you guys interested in competing in?"

"Archery and sword fighting!" Pit said immediately.

"And I want to sign up for wrestling and javelin," Kaitlyn said, tossing back her ponytail as though daring Nighthawk to oppose her. Nighthawk and Kaitlyn's relationship had always seemed slightly awkward to Pit. Kaitlyn had been a human until only a few years ago. Nighthawk was born and bred angel, and was a stickler for the rules. To have his best friend dating a human-turned-angel was probably a red alert on his inner radar.

But Nighthawk merely scribbled down her name under the two events. "Pit, do you know what your apprentice is doing? I haven't seen her all day."

"Cedar? She's watching the airball team practice. I told her Kestrel would take over her training today, seeing as you'd probably have me work my butt off all day anyways."

Nighthawk nodded, not smiling as he again flipped through his clipboard. The papers rustled as he went page by page. "Great. I'll get the airball team to start work after they're finished with their practice. And then I'll get Cedar to help put up the ribbons and clean the upper windows in the temples, and then…" and he broke off muttering to himself as he scribbled on his notebook and scratched his head, deep in thought.

Finally after a few moments, Nighthawk looked back up at both of them. "Okay, Pit, I want you to go and make sure all of the competition arenas and fields are finished being set up. Kaitlyn, some of the younger angels are having trouble setting up pavilion tents and things like that in the far field. I need you to go and help them."

The two angels nodded as Nighthawk went back to his thinking. Kaitlyn smiled at Pit. "I guess that's our cue to leave."

She grabbed his arm and led him from the room to back out on the streets. "I'll see you around, then?"

Pit nodded, giving her a quick hug before she flew off. She struggled for a moment under the harsh breeze, but righted herself and made her way over the buildings to where the far field was. Pit watched her go, his gaze lingering on the building that covered his view of her. For a moment, he thought about what Lady Palutena had said. But he quickly dismissed the thought and turned to leave.

* * *

**If you're reading this, I'm going to thank you profusely for waiting for me :) **

**You are reading the first chapter of the sequel to my ever-popular Grounded story. I hope I can live up to the expectations that have been laid for me. I hope you enjoy this and the next chapters. Expect some crazy gods and goddesses you've never heard of, as well as some old favorites. **

**If you're reading this and you're confused as heck, check out my story Grounded (at the moment, it's at the top of the "reviews" filter for the KI archive) and read that first. That's how you'll know who the heck Kaitlyn, Nighthawk, and Kestrel are. **

**Love you all loads! Thanks for reading!**

**~Pixie**


	2. Chapter 2

Pit had always thought Angel Land had a lot of angels living in its boundaries. It never felt crowded or enclosed, but there were definitely a lot of angels. But with the addition of the angels from Pallasa, Corinthia, Amidimea, and Borona, Angel Land was starting to feel a little bit cramped.

Tents had been set up in most of the fields where the adult angels would be staying. They packed into the field as much as they possibly could, leaving little to no room for walking. The first morning the adult angels were there, they all rose from their tents like a flock of multicolored birds to make it to the street where they could walk more comfortably.

Pit had been with Lady Palutena when the angels arrived. He stood at her left side, Nighthawk at her right, thankfully free of his clipboard. He must have managed to get everything done, or just about, because he looked more relaxed than he had been in the last week. Both of them stood straight and tall next to the goddess, who took her place in between them.

Lady Palutena's flowing hair glowed off the light, giving her the illusion of a halo. Her aura glowed bright and strong, making her appear taller than usual. Pit realized at that point that he actually wasn't all that much shorter than Palutena. He was nearly up to her shoulder, and in a few years, he might actually reach her height. That was an odd thought. Lady Palutena had always seemed so incredibly tall and imposing, but he realized now that he was actually growing up.

The massive flock of angels landed in front of the temple. Despite the fact that all of angels were unique and individual, there were obvious lines between the four groups and it was easy for Pit to tell the groups apart.

In the front of each of the groups stood their leader. A single angel was chosen as a representative for each of the cities, usually one of Palutena's older commanding officers. As one, the four of them bowed.

Palutena raised a hand. "Thank you all for coming."

The leaders rose and dipped their heads. "We thank you for your invitation, Lady Palutena, and I assume I can speak for all of us. We are pleased and honored to be here."

The one who spoke was the leader of Corinthia, the largest of the Skyworld cities. She stood with her shoulders thrown back and head high. Her long black hair flew back in the breeze, and one of her hands gently laid on a bejeweled dagger. It was as though she was expecting to be attacked. But her hand was so casually put there that Pit wasn't sure if she was doing it to actually defend herself or more for show. The latter was probably true, knowing her, which Pit did.

Her name was Magpie, and she hadn't been in Corinthia very long. Pit knew her well, and she had been one of his sparring partners when he was younger. He hadn't known that she had become the leading regent of Corinthia, but it honestly didn't surprise him. Magpie was clever and sharp. If anyone could make their way to the top that quickly, it was Magpie.

One of the male angels narrowed his eyes, frowning hard at Magpie. "Thank you for the introduction, Magpie. Lovely Lady Palutena, thank you for your invitation. The city of Pallasa thanks you for hosting us as well. We know we will make you proud." He bowed his head. Pit inspected him closely. Pit only knew his name through other angels' stories, but he was known as Gyrfalcon, but Pit had heard he went by Falcon. He was a legend among angels. It was said that he had singlehandedly defeated Pyrrhon and Thanatos in a sword fight, back to back, and fought off more Underworld monsters than any other angel. He was a master at sword fighting and archery, and Pit realized that he would have some serious competition in those events.

Pit watched Gyrfalcon as the angel bowed and moved. He was actually quite short in stature, now that Pit looked at him, and didn't seem all that imposing. But after a closer inspection, Pit realized how tight the muscles on the angel's arms were, and the hardness of the angel's jaws. This angel had obviously seen some battles in his lifetime, and Pit realized that Gyrfalcon was probably just as powerful as he had heard.

The other two leaders also made their cities well-wishes known and afterwards Palutena sent them away to set up for the night. The other angels dispersed along with them, all heading back to their homes. Pit and Nighthawk stayed behind, as well as Kaitlyn.

Palutena let out a tired sigh as she sat down on her throne. "And now starts the chaos," she said, rubbing her eyes.

Pit gave her a half smile. "I'm sure it will be great, Lady Palutena! All we have to do is keep over a hundred new angels entertained for a few days!"

"You make it sounds like it's going to be easy," Nighthawk grumbled, having once again pulled out his clipboard and began flipping through it. "But they're going to need food, shelter, entertainment—."

"You make it sound like they're dogs," Kaitlyn said with an eyeroll.

Palutena thought for a moment. "The leader of Borona…" She paused, snapping her fingers for a moment and looking to Nighthawk.

"His name was Tern, I believe," Nighthawk said.

Palutena narrowed her eyes, her lips becoming thinner. "Yes, yes, him…forgot for a moment…anyways, do you think he'll be a problem?"

Nighthawk shook his head. "He's imposing, but I don't see anything on his forms about possible bullying behavior or anything like that."

"And the leader of Amidimea, her name was…" Again Palutena seemed to have some difficulty remembering the name.

"Victoria," Kaitlyn provided.

"Yes, Victoria," the goddess said, nodding. "She's not very old, is she?"

Nighthawk read through his notes. "No, she's relatively recent. I'm not sure how she got to be the leader either."

Palutena let out another sigh. She looked more tired than Pit had seen her in a long time. "I can't remember at the moment. Then again, I can't remember much of anything at all." She stood, yawning. "Well, then, I think I'll be off to bed. I'd like to be able to be of sound mind tomorrow, if possible."

The three angels bid her farewell and left the temple to enter the dark streets. Pit looked ahead of him to the massive grassy field. It was too dark to see anything, but Pit knew that it was fully decorated for tomorrow, and would be used for most of the events. The only ones that wouldn't be held there would be sword fighting, and wrestling, which would be held in their own separate arenas, for safety purposes. Pit wasn't sure how safe they would be anyways, but he wasn't about to argue with Nighthawk. His friend seemed to know best.

Kaitlyn yawned, stretching a little. "Well, I'm going to hit the hay. See you boys tomorrow."

The two bade her farewell. Pit noticed that Nighthawk's gaze lingered on Kaitlyn as she walked away. He blinked, frowning. "Alright, what's going on in that meticulous head of yours?"

Nighthawk didn't face Pit. "I wonder how they're going to take her."

"Who?" Pit asked, confused.

"The adult angels. You know, they've probably heard all about Kaitlyn, but who knows how they'll actually feel about her being here, and her competing."

"Nighthawk, is there something you want to tell me about how _you_ feel about Kaitlyn competing in the festival?" Pit crossed his arms, leveling his gaze. Nighthawk turned to face him, golden eyes narrowed.

"I have no problem with Kaitlyn competing," Nighthawk said sharply. "But I know it took me a while to get used to her being here. The adult angels don't have the time that I did to think over it, and to get to know Kaitlyn personally. Besides, she'll do really well at what she's competing in."

"How is that a problem?" Pit asked.

Nighthawk sighed. "Look, Kaitlyn's different from us in many physical ways. She's stronger, but heavier. She can't shoot a bow, but she's fantastic with a handgun. She can't fly well, but she makes up for that with her sheer power. Honestly, she's got an advantage at wrestling and javelin, and I don't doubt that we'll have to calm down some of the more competitive younger angels when she beats them at those events."

Pit cocked his head slightly. "So, what are you saying exactly?"

"Just…keep a close eye on Kaitlyn."

* * *

Pit found himself running across the massive auditorium room, plates in hand, and trying desperately to figure out which angels had already eaten, and which still needed breakfast. Unfortunately, it wasn't all that easy to figure out. For one, adult angels could eat a lot, and weren't about to let Pit know that they had already had their share.

"Cedar!" He called back over the loud room, "table fourteen needs food!"

He saw the young angel girl nod and fly over the crowded room with her own platter of plates. Pit wiped his head of sweat, panting slightly. He had been at this since he had woken up, which was about three hours ago, and he was exhausted.

"Hey, Pit!"

The angel nearly cried out as he was jerked by his arm to one of the tables. He floundered for a moment, readjusting so his arms were balanced and the plates didn't fall. With a sigh of relief, he managed to do so, saving the food.

Turning, he found himself face to face with Magpie. She still gripped his arm, her face a mere inches from his. Smooth skin, layer black hair that shone like obsidian, and dark, nearly black eyes…Pit remembered her well. He had spent many years sparring with Magpie. Being this close to her was not uncomfortable.

He smiled at her. "Hey, Magpie! Great to see you again!"

"Good to see you too," she said, giving him that mysterious half smile she had become known for. Her hand lifted from Pit's arm and wrapped around his waist, pulling him into a hug. "You seem like you've been doing pretty well for yourself."

Pit nodded. "Yeah, I've been doing pretty well." He looked at his plate of food. "Well, I'd better go and—."

"No, stay!" Magpie said, grinning widely as she dragged Pit back onto the bench.

Pit jerked back down onto the seat from the force of Magpie's tug. He tried to pull himself away, but Magpie's fingers were as tight as iron. He swallowed, gripping onto the platter of food so it didn't spill. "Magpie, I'd love to stay and talk, but I'm a little bit busy at the moment." He held up the plate. "You know…serving food and all?"

The female angel's smile turned from cheerful to mischievous. "Then we'll talk later, okay?"

"Okay," Pit said quickly, starting to worry about the tables that didn't have food.

"You and me, together, lunch, okay!"

"Sure." Pit hardly heard Magpie's words as he hurried to the back tables and started serving food, apologizing for the wait. He ran and flew between the kitchen and tables, Cedar quickly doing the same behind him until all of the angels (and there were a lot of them!) were eating.

Pit groaned and flopped onto an empty chair. Cedar sat next to him, her wings drooping as she laid her head on the table and closed her eyes. Pit was sore from head to toe. He had been on his feet practically all morning. Nighthawk had him help with the breakfast for all the angels, and that meant that he was up before sunrise, and if he continued to work in the food department, he would be asleep after the sun set. It was going to be a long day.

Kaitlyn eventually brought over three plates of food, setting two before Pit and Cedar and taking the third for herself. "Well, you two look beat."

At that moment, Pit let out a long yawn. He gave Kaitlyn a weak smile as he munched on his grapes and raisins. "Yeah…how have you been?"

"I slept fine," Kaitlyn said through mouthfuls of eggs. "How was it waking up the angels?"

"Like herding rabbits," Cedar moaned.

"I think the expression is 'like herding cats', but that doesn't really matter. Were they really that scatterbrained?"

Pit nodded, rubbing his face with his hands in annoyance. "Honestly, I want to go back to bed." He laid his face in his barley cake and moaned.

Kaitlyn rolled her eyes. "You're so dramatic." She rolled a fig between her fingers before biting into it thoughtfully. "No wonder I'm in shape. You guys eat super healthy."

"But not Nutella," Pit sighed, grabbing one of the barley cakes and eating. "It's a sad fact of life."

Kaitlyn smiled. "So, Cedar, did you sign up for any of the events?"

She nodded. "Yes, the flying event. I don't think I'll win, though, especially with the adult angels here. They seem pretty fast."

"I'm sure you'll do great," Kaitlyn said encouragingly. "When is it?"

"Tomorrow, after lunch. Maybe I'll just skip lunch to make myself lighter. At the rate the adults are eating, I might have a chance purely on body mass alone."

The three laughed before continuing with their food. "When is wrestling?" Pit asked Kaitlyn, after starting into his porridge.

"On the last day," Kaitlyn replied. "I wish it was sooner." She glanced at one of the larger tables, where a group of muscular, male angels were arm wrestling. Her green eyes narrowed and her lips pinched. Pit swallowed.

"Kaitlyn, you'll do great!" Pit said quickly. "Don't let any of them intimidate you."

"I'm not intimidated. I just want to beat them."

"Have you been practicing?"

Kaitlyn nodded. "Every day, against anyone I can get. Most of the angels I've trained with are pretty young, though. They're just a bunch of young boys who want to convince me they're strong. The only problem is that they're easy to beat. I haven't had any real competition."

"I'm sure Kestrel would love to fight with you, and she's pretty strong," Pit pointed out.

"Oh, she already did. I won." Kaitlyn sighed, her eyes never leaving the young men. "I'm going to beat the crap out of them." Her lips pulled back into a snarl. It was all Pit could do not to shrink back or leave the table.

Finally, Kaitlyn sighed, lowering her eyes back to her food. "So, now comes the big question: how should I introduce myself?"

"What?" Pit cocked his head.

"I mean, as Kaitlyn, or as Blue. I go by both here, but if I go by Kaitlyn, then it's obvious that I'm the odd one out. If I go by Blue, then I sound like an angel, but they'll figure out that I'm human and complain that it wasn't a fair fight."

"I personally like Kaitlyn," Cedar said, giving Kaitlyn a friendly smile. "It's pretty and exotic."

Kaitlyn smiled a little. "It's anything _but_ exotic in Chicago, but I guess it's pretty different here." She began twisting her fingers in her curls, as she always seemed to do when she was deep in thought. "I don't know. It's pretty stupid, honestly, this whole thing. I just…I want to make a good impression on them, and this could go so many ways."

Pit shrugged. "I don't think it matters."

The blonde-haired girl rolled her eyes. "You're such a guy…" She sighed.

Nighthawk set his plate down and quickly seated himself next to Pit. His clipboard came down quickly next to him. He hardly seemed to care what he was eating, his eyes glued to his clipboard where he hurriedly scribbled down notes.

Pit cleared his throat loudly. "Um…hi, Nighthawk! How are you—."

"Can't talk," Nighthawk interrupted. "Too busy."

"Too busy to eat, or talk to people?"

"Too busy. I have exactly five minutes and forty-three seconds to eat breakfast."

Kaitlyn, again, rolled her eyes. "You're such a workaholic, Nighthawk. Take a break!"

"Cantkabrk," he said through a mouthful of food.

Pit looked to Kaitlyn for help, who replied, "He said he can't take a break."

They all looked back to Nighthawk, who at this point was so distracting that the other three angels' food lay untouched. Finally, Kaitlyn snatched the clipboard from Nighthawk, looking at it nonchalantly as Nighthawk flailed to get it back.

"Give that back!" He snapped. "Can't you see how much work I still have to do?!"

Kaitlyn shook her head, showing him the clipboard from a safe distance. "Nope, it's just a bunch of scribbles to me. Remember? I can't read Ancient Greek."

Nighthawk shook his head wildly, straining to reach the papers that Kaitlyn held. "I need those back!"

Pit laid a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Nighthawk, just take ten minutes of your own life and eat your food. Then we'll give it back, okay? We don't want you to burn yourself out! How long have you been up?"

"Since…four in the morning," Nighthawk said slowly.

"And what time were you in bed last night?"

"…one, maybe?"

Pit sighed, pushing his plate in front of Nighthawk. "Look, just my figs, okay? If you keep this up, you'll collapse and die."

"And if I don't, the whole festival will be ruined!"

"No, I don't think it will," Kaitlyn said. "Seriously. Eat ten figs and I'll give this back. Just ten. That's all we're asking."

Nighthawk looked at them all suspiciously for a moment, but consented to eat the figs. He did so quickly, but not as wildly as he had downed his porridge, which the other three angels took as a good sign. Finally, after a good four minutes, he put down the last stem and sighed, gulping down water. He wiped his face and held out his hands. "Okay, can I have my clipboard back now?"

Kaitlyn handed him the clipboard and Nighthawk immediately left the table and went out of the room. Kaitlyn raised an eyebrow. "No offense, Pit, but Nighthawk is a little…"

"Obsessed?" Cedar put in.

"Yeah, that's a good word for it."

Pit sighed, pushing his plate away. "Yeah, I know."

* * *

"Good morning, and welcome to the Panathenaia!"

The cheers arose from the crowd of angels. The energy exuding from the crowd was invigorating, and Pit couldn't imagine anywhere else that he'd rather be.

The angel who was announcing continued her speech, her voice easily heard over the crowd. Pit recognized her as Lyre, one of the loudest, chattiest angels in all of Angel Land. It wasn't surprising that Nighthawk had chosen her to be the announcer for the festival. "Welcome to the archery competition! Will all of the archers please step forward?"

Pit shouldered his bow and stepped out into the Archery Arena. The amount of angels filling the stands was overwhelming. He tried to find which ones he could recognize, but from such a distance and without their wings showing, it was hard to tell them from one another. Still, he was cheerful and waved to all the people around, grinning widely.

Slowly, he stepped up to his place and set his bows next to him, which was helpful because his arms had started to get tired. He was holding a lot of bows, and he hoped to pick a certain one for each round, depending on the challenge.

He glanced around for a moment at each of the other archers. He had never met any of them before, but they must have been good. They each had their own set of bows, which they had set down. Pit admired them from a distance, only able to see bits of each. They seemed nice, probably specially made for each of them.

"Archers," Lyre continued in her booming voice, "your first challenge will be the straight on target at fifty paces. Pick your bow!"

Pit eyed the target and immediately picked up his Fortune Bow. It was large and quite heavy, but had been designed for medium-to-long range attacks and was very accurate. He glanced at the other contestants and their choice of bows. Large, small, all of them were unique and individual.

"Raise your bows!"

Pit did so, pulling back on the invisible string, feeling the light pulse between his fingers. The arrow appeared on the bow, a streak and point of light that grew bigger and bigger.

"Take aim!"

A long, deep breath settled Pit's form. His muscles were taut though his stance was relaxed. Feet apart, shoulders back, chest out, head back…

"Fire!"

His fingers slipped cleanly off the light string and the arrow shot from the bow. He let out a long breath, watching the arrow streak across the arena with the other arrows. Pit sucked in a breath again, biting his lip.

Nearly a bull's-eye.

"Yes!" Pit pumped his fist, grinning. The crowd cheered loudly. Pit waved, proudly holding up his bow.

Lyre's voice was clear over the crowd. "Alright, archers! If you managed to hit in the red or the inner white ring, you have qualified for the next round! If you hit in the blue or outside, then you will not be moving on. Please exit the field."

The four angels who had not qualified gathered their bows, dipped their heads, and left the shooting area.

The rounds became consecutively more difficult. After straight on came flying and shooting straight on, which was hardly any different to Pit. But some of the angels who were weaker fliers were cut out from that round. Then came the moving targets, which even Pit had a bit of trouble with. But he was good enough to move on to the last round.

He looked over at the angel who hovered next to him, the only other angel that had made it this far. He was good. His dead-on bull's eyes made Pit nervous.

Pit racked his brain for a name. Raptor, that was it. His name was Raptor, from…was it Amidimea? He wasn't a very tall angel, a little like Gyrfalcon in that way, but he was much thinner. His slanted eyes were narrowed and focused, and his dark wings beat effortlessly as he hovered. Pit wasn't sure how he felt around him…maybe slightly lazy? He didn't seem nearly as focused as Raptor was. Pit ran a hand through his hair, letting out a long breath. This was not going to be easy.

From up above, he tried to see if he could spot Kaitlyn in the crowd. But no matter how much he looked or strained his eyes, he couldn't catch a glimpse of Kaitlyn's golden hair, which was odd because it was usually incredibly obvious in bright sunlight. But he didn't see her golden hair anywhere. Did she just decide not to come? That didn't make any sense. She had said she would be here…

Lyre's loud voice pulled him out of his musings. "And for our final challenge, our final two contestants will be using the aerial obstacle course and firing at multiple targets at a time. And now let me introduce our final two contestants! On the right, we have the Captain of Palutena's Guard, Slayer of Underworld Beasts, Pit!"

The crowd once again cheered, and Pit waved to them with a grin. He nearly bowed, but decided that that probably wasn't the best idea and instead continued to wave, smiling widely. But as he did so, he continued to scan the crowd. There was Nighthawk, easily visible in the southwest quadrant, and Cedar appeared to be right next to him. But Kaitlyn was nowhere to be seen.

"And on the left, we have the powerful, sharpshooting master of Amidimea, the Champion of Bows, Master of Flight, Raptor!"

The crowd that had been loud for Pit suddenly group much louder. The adult angels were on their feet, pounding on the ground and howling in delight. Pit swallowed hard, watching Raptor, who didn't seem to mind the attention. A small smile was on his face, and he waved a little. He didn't seem particularly ecstatic, though for all Pit knew, the guy could be screaming for joy on the inside.

"Contestants, pick your bows!"

Pit smiled and held up his bow for the crowd to see. It was his usual, everyday Palutena's Bow, the blue one edged in gold. It wasn't nearly as particularly accurate, but Pit was used to it. He knew that its comfort would balance out the fact that it wasn't all that accurate.

The other angel picked his bow and the two nodded to Lyre that they were ready. She dipped her head and grinned, spreading her hands wide. "Alright! Contestants, on your mark!"

"Get set!"

Pit took a long, deep breath. _Forget about Kaitlyn right now…_he told himself. _She can take care of herself. She's probably just delayed by something. Yeah, that's it…she's just—_

"Go!"

Pit grunted in effort as he pumped his wings hard, shooting off towards the first floating ring. He had to get through all of them, while paying attention enough to shoot. Missing rings cost points, as did missing targets.

Pit's eyes flashed across the arena and locked onto the targets. They looked like simple balls being thrown into the air, though how, Pit didn't know. He pulled back on his bow and released rapidly. One, two, three…four and five. He grinned as he pulled up and into the next ring, which he entered easily, and shot those targets as well. He had to do a quick barrel roll to manage all of them, but he was able to shoot them all down.

_Alright, you take off and I'll start throwing things to you._

Pit suddenly remembered a time not too long ago, when he had been doing basically this exact same event. He could hear the man's voice, see his blonde hair and blue eyes and the disk he threw into the air for Pit to shoot down.

That was when he had flown on his own for the first time. It had been exhilarating and wondrous. Pit would never forget that feeling.

_Come on, come on, come on…_ Pit thought, shooting multiple balls out of the sky. Had he missed any? It was hard to tell. He was starting to get dizzy from all of the spinning shots he had been forced to make in order to aim correctly.

Raptor was fast. Pit could see him out of the corner of his eye, and he was ahead of Pit, practically a grey streak in the air. His shots rapidly took the balls out of the air. Pit gritted his teeth and pumped his wings, trying to catch some sort of draft so he could go faster.

Pit was starting to lose track of time. How long had it been? Was he almost at the end? His head was spinning and he tried to focus on the balls in order to aim, but he was starting to completely lost focus. It took all his concentration just to keep his wings moving.

With a cry of relief, Pit caught sight of the end of the course. It was a platform high above the ground. Pit made his wobbly way over and landed ungracefully on the platform. His legs collapsed underneath him and he lay on the platform panting and heaving for air.

Raptor seemed to have less of a problem. He landed smoothly, save a few missteps, and shook out his head to clear away the dizziness. He glanced at Pit on the ground, and gave him a half smile. "Having trouble?"

Pit managed a thumbs-up in Raptor's direction. "Nothing…I can't…handle…"

Raptor smirked, but turned back to the scoreboard, which was still blank and waiting for the scores.

The scoreboard was attached to the booth that Lyre stood in. The girl angel had disappeared from view as the scores were tallied. Speed, ring accuracy, and number of balls hit were all taken into account. Pit managed to sit up, munching on his lower lip in anticipation.

Raptor's scores came up quickly.

**Speed: 9**

Pit nodded and clapped along with the other angels, who yelled out their approval.

**Rings: 8**

Also a good score. He must have missed a few though.

**Balls Hit: 9**

Pit winced. That was a _really _good score. Pit needed to get even better scores to beat him. But he clapped politely and nodded to Raptor, who nodded back in thanks.

**Speed: 8**

It made sense. He was slower than Raptor, and all his spinning had taken a toll on him.

**Rings: 10**

The crowd of Angel Land angels went wild in excitement. Pit held himself back from jumping and fist-pumping. He merely nodded, and waiting in anticipation. He needed at least a 9 on his last score to beat Raptor.

**Balls Hit: 9**

Pit let out a long breath, a grin coming over his face. The crowd at this point was screaming so loud that Pit couldn't hear Lyre's voice any longer.

"Good job, Pit." Raptor faced Pit and shook his hand, smiling. "You're a good shot. It's clear Lady Palutena's in good hands."

"Thank you," Pit said. "You're really great too! You hardly seemed to get dizzy at all!"

Raptor shrugged. "Years of flying can help with that. It just takes practice. You'll find your own technique eventually."

Pit nodded. "Thank—."

He was cut off by Lyre's voice, which seemed to have gotten louder. "Attention, everyone! I have an important announcement! It appears that the wrestling competition has been moved up! If everyone would please go to the wrestling arena, we will begin!"

_The wrestling competition? But that was the one…_ Pit looked around and his eyes locked onto the ground. Standing in the middle of the arena, looking incredibly irritated, was Kaitlyn.

* * *

**Yay, chapter 2! Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes in this...my usual editor (A.K.A. sister) is gone for the next week, and so she didn't have a chance to look over it. **

**Anyhow, in the next chapter, hopefully we'll actually start getting into the meat of the story...I know within the next two we will. We'll get a villain, and all the fun stuff that comes with it :)**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Pixie**


	3. Chapter 3

Kaitlyn had tried to be good. She really had. She had tried to be friendly and open and easily brush off people's comments, but unfortunately, Kaitlyn was naturally a little temperamental.

Still, she had spent most of the morning going around and introducing herself to adult angels, asking them how they were doing, seeing if she could help them in any way, and things like that. And at first, it seemed to go well. Most of them were a little lost and forgetful and were happy to have help finding arenas and certain temples and things of that sort. Kaitlyn left her multiple weapons at her house, so as not to freak out the other angels with her gun and pistols.

_Give them no reason to hate me or think differently of me…_Kaitlyn thought throughout the whole process. That was what she was trying to do, make a good impression. She wanted them to respect and accept her, so she tried to act as angel-ish as possible, which came out to be a perky, smiley Kaitlyn that she altogether didn't know even existed.

"You, blue feathers, which way to the archery arena?"

Kaitlyn turned around to face the voice and put on a smile. "Down that street, then take a right. You can't miss it!"

The angel, along with a group of others, all began to walk towards her. They were all male angels; the smallest was taller than her by at least a head. The one in the front was of middle height, with dark grey hair, pale skin, and dark gold eyes. The group stopped in front of Kaitlyn and the one in the front, obviously the leader, raised an eyebrow. "I don't recognize you at all. Are you new?"

Kaitlyn nodded, trying to sound as happy as possible. "Yes, I am!"

The angel's eyes narrowed, then widened for a moment. "Hey, wait, you're the human girl, aren't you! The one Lady Palutena gave wings too."

Kaitlyn held back a breath of annoyance. "Yes, that's me."

A mischievous glint came into the man's eyes. "Ah, I've been wondering what Palutena's human pet looked like. No wonder she keeps you around. You're awfully pretty for a human."

Kaitlyn sucked in a breath and let it out silently, trying to brush off the "human pet" comment. "I'll take that as a compliment," she managed to say with a smile.

The man looked at her and smiled, though it hardly matched his gleaming eyes. "So what do they call you?"

"My _name_ is Kaitlyn," the blonde said. She was trying not to grit her teeth together in annoyance, but she was having a hard time of it.

"Kaitlyn? What an unusual name."

"I'm not hearing you offer yours," Kaitlyn said sharply.

The man shook his head, his dark hair falling in front of his eyes. "Forgive me. My name is Osprey, and my friends here are Kingfisher, Buzzard, and Redtail."

Kaitlyn crossed her arms. "Well, where I'm from, those names are considered more than unusual."

"No need to get touchy," Osprey said. "I want to know what you're competing in, that's all!"

"Wrestling," Kaitlyn said sharply, "and javelin, but wrestling is what I'm really interested in winning."

Osprey gave a short laugh. "Really? Wrestling? You're looking at the top wrestler of Corinthia." He puffed his chest out in pride, the white and grey feathers on his wings flaring and fluffing themselves out.

"You?" Kaitlyn looked the angel up and down. In human years, he couldn't have been older than eighteen years old, and he wasn't all that large. His shoulders were hardly broad, and his waist was thin. He didn't actually look all that strong. "You're a wrestler? And the best Corinthia has to offer? Then I guess this match will be easier to win than I thought."

"Oh, you think so?" Osprey threw his hands out and shoved Kaitlyn backwards. She gave a small cry as she fell, throwing back her arms to try and catch herself. But she didn't need to. One of the other angels from Osprey's little group was behind her and he shoved her back, laughing.

Kaitlyn yelled in anger as she was pushed back and forth in the small circle by the three angels. "Get off of me!" she screamed, but she realized there was no one there to hear her. They were all at the archery competition.

"Or what?" Osprey said with a laugh. Kaitlyn's arms were held by two of the angels so she faced Osprey. His face was smug with delight. Kaitlyn's lips pulled back in a snarl of disgust. "You're nothing more than a pet to the goddess. Why else would she have you up here? You're nothing more than a common mutt." He looked Kaitlyn up and down for a moment, hand on his chin. "You know any tricks, mutt?"

"Why are you doing this?" Kaitlyn snapped. "So I'm a human turned angel. Why should you care? You don't even live here!"

Osprey frowned, his golden eyes meeting Kaitlyn's green. "This is a pure, sacred world, free of human filth. All you're doing is making it worse. Maybe if you're taught a lesson, you'll learn not to come back. That's what dogs do, right? Learn tricks?"

Something inside of Kaitlyn snapped, and before she knew what she was doing. She had ripped her arms away from the angels and pinned Osprey to the ground, fist held directly over his face. The mischief in his face was gone, replaced by a spark of fear that Kaitlyn found incredibly satisfying. "I'm going to make you pay for saying that to me," she hissed.

She nearly punched him in the face. She would have liked to, but she knew that if she accidentally hit him wrong, she could easily do more damage than she had been intending. So instead she shifted her position and slammed her fist into Osprey's stomach, upwards toward the diaphragm. She could hear the air leave his lungs, and Osprey gave a loud cry, wheezing for breath.

Kaitlyn stood up, her feet straddling Osprey's body. "See you at the match," she said in her most menacing tone. She hardly had to turn to catch sight of the other three angels, who had stood by and watched in fear as Kaitlyn punched their leader. "Stay out of my way," she snapped and rustled the feathers on her wings as she left.

Now she needed to find Nighthawk.

* * *

Pit stood next to Kaitlyn and sighed briefly. "And that's how it happened?"

Kaitlyn shrugged. "More or less. I want to get this stupid event over with now."

"Why? You were so excited about it before!"

Kaitlyn's green eyes were narrowed angrily. "Because if I'm going to earn respect from the angels, then I have to show them I'm at least half as tough as they are. And I'm going to do it by winning this tournament!"

Pit rubbed his face with one hand, trying desperately to understand. "Kaitlyn, you could have done that tomorrow, when the contest was supposed to take place. Why make it now? I get that you aren't so happy because of Osprey, but honestly, you took his down already! Why move the contest up?"

"Because," Kaitlyn said sharply. "If I don't do it now, Osprey will probably tell everyone that I beat him up for no good reason, or something stupid like that, and then I'll be disqualified or shunned or something else like that. I need to do this now. Nighthawk took care of everything. I'll see you at the Wrestling Arena in ten minutes." Kaitlyn took off in a flash of blue feathers, flying slowly up out of the arena and out of sight.

Pit groaned and sighed before taking off himself in the direction of the large announcer's box, where he knew both Lyre and Lady Palutena would be. Somehow, he didn't think this would end very well.

"Lady Palutena." Pit landed on the platform and bowed. He noticed that all the angels were leaving to go to the Wrestling Arena. It was like a mass exodus. He took a deep breath and turned back to Palutena, who was alone in the box. "I don't think this is going to go so well."

Palutena looked at Pit and cocked her head. "What will?"

"You know, the wrestling match. Kaitlyn is not happy, and this could end really badly."

"Kaitlyn?"

Pit nodded. "Yeah. She's the one who started all of this. And if she gets even angrier, we could have some seriously injured angels. You know she's a little temperamental…well…very temperamental…Lady Palutena, are you alright?"

The goddess' face was nearly blank, as though she was watching something she found vaguely interesting but that she really had no comment on. She looked at Pit with green eyes that were glazed over, as though she had been staring at a screen for too long. "What are you talking about?"

Pit swallowed, motioning to the arena, which was nearly empty at this point. "Aren't you even a little worried that this could end badly?"

"What could end badly?"

Pit stared at the goddess, narrowing his eyes. "Lady Palutena, are you sure you're alright?"

"Why wouldn't I be alright?"

Something was very, very wrong, and Pit couldn't help but get a sick feeling in his stomach. "Lady Palutena, do you know who's going to be competing in the tournament? Who started all of this?"

The green eyes narrowed and Palutena looked as though she was trying hard to think. "No…not that I can remember…"

Pit took a long breath, looking out to the sky, now filled with angels. He needed to go and watch Kaitlyn's match to make sure it didn't get out of hand. But there was obviously something wrong with Lady Palutena. He gritted his teeth and let out a long breath. "I'll be back in a little while. I need to go and make sure Kaitlyn is alright. Okay?"

Palutena nodded. "Okay. Have fun."

Pit managed a weary half-smile. "Will do." He took off and shot out of the booth to the other arena. It was around the same size as the Archery Arena, but set up for hand-to-hand sports. A platform had been erected in the center of the arena, making it rise up above the ground level so the angels would be able to see better. Pit made his way to one of the open levels and landed there, sitting down on a bench. The other angels were hooting and hollering for their favorite angels, showing their city pride. Pit was too distracted to join in.

"Well, isn't this a surprising turn of events."

"Nighthawk!" Pit turned to his friend, who had sat next to him. In his hands was his trust clipboard, which he was once again, scribbling notes on. Pit suddenly felt incredibly upset at his friend. "How could you let this happen?!" He yelled angrily. "We both know Kaitlyn can be rough when she's angry!"

Nighthawk narrowed his eyes, not looking at Pit. "But she's trying to defend her reputation. I thought that was the plan all along."

"Yeah, but it wasn't supposed to end up like this!" Pit yelped, motioning to the angels who had come into the arena so that they could compete. Kaitlyn stood off on her own, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

"Well, that's kind of what happened!" Nighthawk snapped. "I didn't have a whole lot of choice on the matter! If something goes wrong, we can always intervene. But for now, we should just let it go."

Pit took a long breath and groaned, head in his hands. He just knew this was not the way it was supposed to happen. If something went wrong, Kaitlyn's reputation could go even further down the drain. "Nighthawk," he finally said, "something's wrong with Lady Palutena."

"Like what?"

"She's so…out of it. I don't think she's tired or anything. But something's seriously wrong with her. She keeps on forgetting who everyone is."

The dark-skinned angel raised an eyebrow. "Well, that's unusual, but it's probably just the stress of everything getting to her."

"You think so?"

"We all deal with stress differently. It's not like you freak out as much as I do when you're under a time crunch."

"Yeah, I just sing weird songs," Pit replied. "Still, don't you think it's odd that—?"

"Pit! There you are!"

The brown-haired angel turned to see Magpie land into the empty seat next to him. Her dark feathers brushed against his skin as she drew close. "I was wondering where you were!" Pit felt her long fingers interlace with his. "You flew off so fast before that we didn't get to have a good conversation."

Pit sighed. "Not to be mean, Magpie, but this isn't the best time."

"Why not?" She raised a thin eyebrow. "I thought you said we'd do lunch?"

_It's not lunch time,_ Pit thought. But that didn't sound very appropriate to say to the angel girl. "It's just that…we're a bit busy…and I'm here to make sure Kaitlyn is okay."

"Kaitlyn?" Magpie turned to look at the field. "You mean the human girl? I've heard so much about her! Is she competing?"

Pit gently pulled his hand away from hers. For some reason, Magpie was making him feel a little uncomfortable, though he wasn't sure why. "Yeah, she is. We're here to…um…support her."

Magpie scooted closer to Pit, so her shoulder touched his. "Is she a close friend of yours?"

"Yeah. She's kind of—."

"She's not as pretty as I thought she'd be."

Pit forgot what he was going to say. He shook his head. "Wait, what?"

Magpie shrugged. "I mean, she's kind of exotic looking. But she's not a beauty to behold, if you know what I mean."

Pit's lips tightened. "No, I don't."

"Now, don't take this the wrong way, Pit. I'm _sure_ she has a _great_ personality. But when it comes to angelic beauty, she's just not as…flawless as other angel girls."

Pit wasn't sure what taking that comment the wrong way was, but he wasn't very happy with it. "Wait a minute, hold on, are you saying that—."

"Welcome to the Wrestling Tournament!"

Pit was once again cut off in mid-sentence, this time by Lyre, who had taken her place in the upper box. Pit couldn't see it very well from his angle, but he wondered if Palutena was up there as well. She was supposed to be, but judging by her condition, she could easily not be there.

"This has been an interesting turn of events, ladies and gentlemen! The wrestling match that was going to occur tomorrow has been switched to today! So get ready to watch some serious fighting!"

The crowd whooped and cheered. Pit wasn't surprised. Angels were very excitable creatures and unexpected things made them very animated. Still, he wasn't really all that focused on the match anymore. He shot a look at the angel next to him. "Magpie!" He yelled, trying to be heard over the crowd. "What are you saying about Kaitlyn?"

She didn't seem to hear him, so Pit merely pinched his lips and turned back to the field, where the first match was about to start. Pit wasn't all the interested in the match, actually. Kaitlyn wasn't fighting in this round. So he watched with only mild curiosity.

The angels hollered and cheered as the match finished and one angel went away victorious. The second match quickly started. Kaitlyn fought in this one, so Pit actually watched with interest. He observed her closely. She seemed intensely focused as she flew up to the platform. She landed and nonchalantly began to stretch a little, starting with her arms and then touching her toes. Her opponent grinned at her, eyes narrow and dark. He obviously didn't think she was a threat to him. Pit wasn't sure if he should feel sorry for the guy. He didn't know what he was dealing with.

In fact, the match ended quickly. Kaitlyn was heavier and stronger than her opponent and soon had him on the ground, pinned down. After Lyre called the match in Kaitlyn's favor, she let her opponent up. Pit was relieved to see her smile a little when they shook hands and the two of them left on good terms.

_Maybe this won't be so bad after all,_ Pit thought. _Kaitlyn seems to be doing well enough._

Nighthawk nudges his friend. "She's pretty strong."

"And you doubted that?"

He snorted. "No. I've just never seen her in action before."

Pit nodded. He hadn't seen Kaitlyn fight for a while now, and even then, she never used her full strength. Now she was able to without fear of really injuring someone, especially the younger angels she usually trained with.

The matches went by quickly, and the best angels were the ones that won all of their matches with ease. In the end, Pit could see the two who would end up in the finals. Kaitlyn was obviously one of them. She was physically stronger than just about all of the other angels, and her fighting style was very different. She had been trained on Earth. All of the angels had been trained by mostly the same teachers, while Kaitlyn had spent years being trained by completely different instructors. So she had an advantage.

The other angel wasn't a surprise either. Gyrfalcon was small, but incredibly strong for an angel, and Pit wondered if he might actually be able to match Kaitlyn's strength. Also, he didn't fight in the traditional angel way, with a lot of ducking and weaving and jumping out of the way. He was more like Kaitlyn: confrontational.

So when it was time for the final match, Pit was nearly gripping the marble bench in anticipation. Up to this point, Kaitlyn hadn't shown any signs of losing her temper. But now that it was the final round, and she was against one of the best angel fighters in history, she might have reason to let loose her inner beast.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, hasn't this been an exciting match!" Lyre's voice once again rose over the crowd in a way that no other angel could do. "The final round will choose the winner of the wrestling competition! Please welcome to the field our competitors!"

"On the right, the Master of Battles, the King of the Arena, and the Champion of Lady Palutena herself, Gyrfalcon of Pallasa!"

Pit gritted his teeth as the crowd burst into cheers. Pounding, stomping, screaming…the angels were aware of Gyrfalcon's legendary fights, and they were looking for a good fight today.

"And on the left, sharpshooting extraordinaire and the first ever human to fight in an angel tournament, I give you…Kaitlyn!"

The crowd's response to Kaitlyn was interested, but obviously not as invested as it was Gyrfalcon. Kaitlyn held up her hand in a short wave. She narrowed her eyes and stared across the arena at Gyrfalcon, who was looking out into the crowd and nodding. Pit knew she was scrutinizing his every move, trying to figure out exactly how he would attack and defend. She had watched his matches earlier, so maybe she had some idea. Pit wasn't all the sure.

Nighthawk nudged him in the side. "Well, here we go."

Pit nodded, wringing his fingers together in anticipation.

Magpie put a hand on Pit's shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm sure Falcon won't hurt her _that_ badly."

Pit jumped to his feet, suddenly very angry. "KAITLYN!" He yelled out. "YOU CAN DO IT!"

A few angels turned and stared in surprise. Pit watched as Kaitlyn turned and waved, a small smile on her face. She gave him a quick thumbs up before turning back to Gyrfalcon.

Pit couldn't help but give a smug look to Magpie. "I think she'll be fine."

The girl's lips pinched together tightly and she turned away. Pit, despite his annoyance, was still slightly confused. What had happened to Magpie? She used to be so much fun to practice with. Had her time in Corinthia really changed her that much?

"Get ready!" Lyre shouted. "Get set! FIGHT!"

Gyrfalcon moved with such speed that Pit could hardly track him. In moments, Kaitlyn was flat on her back, and she gave a small cry of surprise. Falcon had grabbed her foot and pulled it out from under her. Kaitlyn's free leg wrapped around Flacon's neck and jerked it away from her, forcing him to let go of her foot. Kaitlyn hurriedly stood up, facing Falcon with hands up in front of her face. Before he could compose himself, she threw a high kick to his face. But with lightning speed, he grabbed her leg and twisted. The girl lost her balance, but fell in such a way as to grab Falcon's lower leg. She jerked hard and they both fell to the ground.

Kaitlyn was on top for a moment, then Falcon, then Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn grabbed his arms and forced them behind his head, then sprawled herself on top of him, using her unorthodox human weight to force Gyrfalcon into submission.

"And the first round goes to Kaitlyn!"

Nearly panting, Kaitlyn stood and shoved a fist into the air. The crowd cheered politely, but they all seemed to be a little shocked that the human girl had bested their legendary fighter.

Falcon stood up, dusting himself off. He turned to Kaitlyn and nodded in approval, who nodded back with her head high. They both went back to their corners and readied themselves.

The second round went much quicker than the first. Again, Falcon didn't wait for Kaitlyn to move. He charged, head low, straight into Kaitlyn. The girl was forced back into the wall of the arena, unable to get a grip onto him. He grabbed both of her legs and pulled, flipping her onto her back and slamming her to the ground. The air was completely knocked out of her lungs and she gasped for air as Gyrfalcon took the opportunity to hold her on the ground.

Pit munched on his lower lip. His hands were clenched into fists, his nails digging into his palms. _One more round…one more round…_

Round three began much more slowly. Both Kaitlyn and Falcon were more cautious than before and circled each other for a while. Both held themselves low to the ground, knees bent and hands high to protect their heads.

Gyrfalcon threw a fist to the side of Kaitlyn's head, which she blocked. With a yell, she charged at him and tacked him to the ground. The crowd gasped in excitement. The two scuffled on the ground for a while, but eventually came back up and went back into their earlier defensive positions.

Falcon threw a punch, which Kaitlyn dodged easily. But he hadn't meant it to hit. It was his distraction. Before Kaitlyn was aware of what was going on, she slammed into the ground from the force of a powerful roundhouse kick. Falcon tried to come and straddle her so as to keep her grounded, but she threw up her feet at the last moment, catching him in the stomach and forcing him away. She rose to her feet, her breaths heavy. Falcon seemed to be having an equally difficult time breathing.

It seemed the finale had finally come. Both of them lowered their heads, yelled, and charged. Pit held his breath. This was it…

A flash of light came from the arena, momentarily blinding the audience. _What the heck?_ Pit thought. _Can Gyrfalcon do magic? Isn't that against the rules?_

When the angels could see again, and audible gasp came from the crowd.

Kaitlyn and Gyrfalcon were on opposite sides of the arena, trying to stand up. In the center of the arena stood a figure. Hands on her hips, black hair streaming out behind her, and black and white wings extended.

Since when had she disappeared? Pit realized now that Magpie wasn't sitting next to him any longer, but how had she left so quietly? Taking off wasn't exactly a quiet action, and her wings alone would have been easy to see out of the corner of his eye.

Magpie clapped her hands slowly, a smile on her face and eyes bright. "Very good, you two! Kaitlyn, I had no idea you were such a good fighter! I must remember not to underestimate you in the future!"

"Magpie?" Gyrfalcon had managed to stand after being blasted into the wall. "What the—."

"And you, Gyrfalcon!" Magpie turned to him. "The stories are true after all! I always thought Hades was making the whole story up, but it seems you can really best the strongest. Too bad the strongest here was only a little human girl. It's kind of embarrassing that she held up so well, don't you think?"

Kaitlyn stood up as well, glaring at Magpie. "What are you doing here, we were—." She suddenly cut off, eyes widening for a moment. "Hold on…Hades…"

"Oh, right!" Magpie put a finger under her chin, thinking. "You're the human girl who helped defeat Medusa. I'll have to have you know, she's not very happy about being back in the Underworld. But then again, who is? I was there for much longer than both of them combined!"

The dark haired angel girl sighed at their blank, confused expressions. "Really? This disguise is that good? Oh well, it was fun while it lasted!"

Magpie clapped her hands together hard and at once, a bubble of purple and black swirls appeared around her. The sphere filled with black mist, making it impossible to see inside.

Pit threw himself in the air, trying to fly down to the arena. But the sphere that Magpie had disappeared into was letting off a powerful force into the air around it, causing Pit to not be able to get much closer than twenty feet away. He tried to scream Kaitlyn's name out, but no sound came from his lips. He was effectively stuck in the sphere's aura.

After a moment, the sphere died away, releasing the black mist from inside. It fell to the ground, revealing the shape inside. A tall figure rose from the dark air, a bare foot stepping out onto the ground. Pit stayed hovering nearby, unaware that he could move once again.

"You see? Disguises can be quite effective. Hades never believed me, of course. He's always the one for dramatic flair." The figure tossed back a strand of blood red hair, which hung straight and long down her back.

Pit finally found himself able to land, and he did so right next to Kaitlyn. The figure before them was tall, probably taller than Lady Palutena. She had pale, sallow skin and a thin complexion all together. She was clothed in a full length true red dress, which looked as though it had been cut from a single piece of fabric. Her feet were bare of any shoes, and she walked delicately, as though she were walking across glass.

She gave Pit a smile, thought it hardly reached the deep wildness of her dark eyes. "And you must be Pit. A pleasure to meet you. Hades and Medusa speak very highly of your accomplishments."

Pit's bow was already out, having been split into two blades. "Who are you?" he asked, eyes narrowed and voice low. "And what are you doing here?"

"Oh, how silly. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Eris."

Pit blinked. "Never heard of you."

The woman looked slightly shocked. "Really? Well, of course, it's been a while since I've been upworld. You'll have to do a little more research if you want Lady Palutena to ever remember who you are agai—."

"What are you talking about?!" Pit yelled, blades held up in a threatening position. "What did you do to Lady Palutena?!"

Eris tossed back another loose strand of hair back nonchalantly. "Pit, if we're going to get to know each other better, you'll have to know that I'm a goddess of action, not of words. So here, let me show you…"

The woman held up her hand and in her palm, a small sphere appeared. Pit inches forward slowly, squinting a little. After a moment, the image came into focus. It was a young woman, chained to a wall. She appeared to have long, powder blue hair that was done up in a messy ponytail. She appeared to be sleeping, though Pit couldn't be sure.

"Who is that?" Pit asked suspiciously.

Eris smiled. "Come on, you expect me to tell you? If you know who she is, you'll know what I did."

"That's it?" Pit snapped. "If that's all you're going to say, then why tell us anything?"

Eris thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Pit, one day you'll learn that it's about the chase, not about the end goal. I'm confident enough in my abilities that I'm happy to play a little game with you."

She turned as though to go, but turned her head back after a moment. "Oh, and Pit? You have a week to find what you're looking for."

And with that, the red-haired woman disappeared into a cloud of black mist.

* * *

**Sorry for any grammatical or spelling errors...still working those out. I had a hard time typing today and my fingers do not seem to want to go where I want them to, for some reason.**

**Anyhow, here's the thing: in a little over a month, I'm moving about halfway across the country to go to college. Until then, I have a full-time job. I will try to writer as often as possible, but if I don't update for a week or so, it's because I'm working and can't find time to write. I often help close the store that I work at, and therefore find it really hard to write when I get back home at around 9:00 pm and am dead tired because I've been running around for nearly 8 hours.**

**Still, I'll try to write as often as I can. After all, the story is just starting to get interesting :) If you can guess who the blue-haired person is, you're psychic. But she'll be introduced soon. As for Eris, she's actually starting to really interest me. So I'm pretty sure I'm bringing her in more. **

**Well, until next time! I'd love reviews, if you feel so inspired to write one. **

**~Pixie**


	4. Chapter 4

"Her name is Mnemosyne."

Pit glanced at the book Nighthawk was leaning over. "Nemo-what?"

"Nem-oh-seen." Nighthawk pronounced the name very slowly. He held up the book, showing the picture he had been observing. The picture was an old sketch of a young girl, probably around fourteen years old, with a long powder blue ponytail and a pleasant face. In her hands was a large book, that seemed to be gilded in gold. "She's the Goddess of Memory, and apparently invented languages and words."

"She looks kind of like Pandora," Pit said a little uncertainly.

"She's nicer than Pandora, and has better morals. Trust me."

Kaitlyn rubbed her chin for a moment. "So, this Eris lady has the Goddess of Memory. Okay…I guess that makes a little sense. Is that why Lady Palutena is having a hard time remembering things?"

"It could be," Nighthawk said, setting the book down and picking up the next one in his stack. Nighthawk, Kaitlyn, Pit, and Cedar were all standing in the Skyworld Archives, which was probably the largest building in Angel Land, even bigger than Palutena's Temple. It was filled to the brim with old scrolls, books, and various other old records. After their encounter with Eris, the other angels had been sent to their homes for the day, and Nighthawk had taken the four of them to the Archives to do a little research.

"As for Eris," he said slowly, showing them a picture of the lady they had seen outside from the book they were looking at, "She's the Goddess of Chaos and Discord, twin sister of Harmonia, Goddess of Harmony and Concord, and one of the most dangerous deities. In fact, over ten thousand years ago, the other gods and goddesses locked her away in Tartarus, so she wouldn't be able to cause any more wars, between gods or humans. It seems she had a nasty habit of causing a ruckus wherever she went."

"But she escaped somehow," Kaitlyn said. "And we have a week to get…what?"

Nighthawk sighed. "I'm still working on that." He closed the book and motioned around him. "I'm sure if I keep on looking, I'll be able to find information on _something_ that will help us."

"So what do we know so far?" Cedar asked from her perch on one of the bookshelves.

Pit held up his fingers and began counting out points on them. "Okay, we know that Eris, Goddess of Chaos, has kidnapped Mnemosyne, the Goddess of Memory, though how and why is still a mystery."

"We also know that we have to find something in order to stop Eris," Kaitlyn said.

Cedar hummed as she thought. "But, what about Mnemosyne? Does the thing we find free her, or just stop Eris? And do we have to find the "thing" in less than a week, or free Mnemosyne?"

Nighthawk shook his head. "As soon as I know what we're looking for, then I'll see. I need to do more research on Mnemosyne, too, and see what happens when she's captured by another deity."

"What should we do?" Pit asked. "All the angels are a little freaked out at this whole event. Should we send them home?"

Kaitlyn nodded. "We can't continue with the festival at this rate, so we might as well."

"No," Nighthawk said. "If the Goddess of Memory has been kidnapped, when who knows how long it will take for the angels to start feeling the effects. We need them to be here, so they don't hurt themselves."

Cedar, Pit, and Kaitlyn nodded slowly. Nighthawk scratched his chin and messed with his hair for a moment. "I'm going to stay here and do a little more research. You all should go and get some sleep. If my hunch is correct, we're going to be busy tomorrow."

"No way! We'll stay with you and help you with your research," Pit said.

Nighthawk's look was a mix of ridicule and boredom. "Pit, all you're going to do is fall asleep and bother me with your snoring."

"I do not—!"

"Regardless," Nighthawk said, holding a hand up, "I think I'll be faster without you helping. But thanks for the offer. Now, if you'll all excuse me, I have some books to find."

The others nodded and slowly left the archive building, leaving Nighthawk to his musing and mumbling. Cedar was the first to break the silence as they exited to the bright outdoors. "Do you think he'll be alright?"

Pit nodded. "Oh, he'll be fine. One thing you have to know about Nighthawk is that he can live off of a steady diet of determination and note-taking."

"Or he _thinks_ he does," Kaitlyn said, rolling her eyes. "After about three days, we usually force him to eat something."

"True."

Cedar still looked a bit worried, but nodded anyway. "If you say so…"

She said goodbye to the two of them and flew off towards her house, leaving Pit and Kaitlyn behind. At this point, they were standing on the edge of the main island, staring out into the nothingness of the sky. The sky above them seemed to go on forever, but the Cloud Barrier hid any view of the Earth below them.

Pit shot a quick glance at Kaitlyn, wondering what she was thinking. Did she miss Earth? Her life hadn't been the best while she was there, but were there things she missed about Earth that she couldn't find in Angel Land? Maybe clothing, other than togas. Or forests. Or skyscrapers. Or even school. The Skyworld didn't have those things.

Pit held back a sigh as he let the wind blow through his hair. He shivered, re-reminding himself to start pulling out thicker clothing. He wondered if they'd need to go around the Skyworld to find, well, whatever they were looking for. If so, he'd really need to start looking for new clothes.

"You know what?" Kaitlyn asked, breaking the silence. She was still looking out, not facing Pit. "I honestly thought this thing was going to go down without a hitch. Like, we'd actually not have to worry about anything." She sounded disappointed, and the way her eyes were set and lips her pinched together displayed her frustration.

Pit wasn't sure what to say. Sure, most of their activities together usually ended in some sort of turmoil, whether it be buildings burning down (the Colchian Dragon Battle) or flooding (the Naiad Rebellion). But he got the feeling Kaitlyn was taking about something more than just the crazy things that happened in the Skyworld.

Kaitlyn shook her head, her ponytail tossing slightly behind her from the wind. She sighed. "Okay, well, I'm going to bed. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be hectic."

"Yeah, me too," Pit said. Kaitlyn smiled and gave him a quick kiss to the cheek before taking off and flying back towards where her house was. Pit watched her go, her blue feathers glinting brightly off the light of the setting sun.

Pit sat down on the edge of the island, letting his feet dangle over the edge. He tucked a stray piece of hair away from his face and sighed deeply. He needed to sleep, but at the moment, all he wanted was to be alone in the breeze and let it calm him down. He was worried, very worried. At least with Medusa, he had known what his enemy had been capable of. With this Chaos Goddess, Eris, he was completely unprepared. He didn't have any experience with Eris, no history to work off of. He only hoped that maybe Nighthawk would be able to find him something to work with.

And then there was Palutena. Angel Land was fairly self-sufficient. They would be able to survive without Palutena to guide them, at least for a while. And with Nighthawk here, they would be in good hands. Nighthawk was a smart, capable angel and had been training under Lady Palutena ever since Medusa had been banished. He was becoming quite adept at summoning and banishing charms, and was the main organizer of basically everything in Angel Land. He would keep everything under control.

Finally Pit stood up, running a hand through his hair and unfurling his wings. His white feathers flared out in the breeze. After a few moments, he flapped hard and took off, eager to get to sleep.

* * *

"Alright, Nighthawk, what have you got for us?" Kaitlyn announced, as she threw the large doors to the archive open with little to no trouble. Even Pit had trouble opening those doors sometimes. He and Cedar followed Kaitlyn into the dark space.

The tables in the room were filled with books. Papers were everywhere, scattered around over the books and on the floor. The angels took extra care not to step on any of them, as most of them were old documents that were absolutely invaluable. Even having them on the floor was a hazard.

The books on one table were pushed away and from the castle-like structure came Nighthawk. He had two books in hand and seemed to be comparing them, but upon seeing his friends, he set them down, a smile breaking over his face. "Good morning!"

Pit raised an eyebrow. "Um…Nighthawk? Did you sleep at all?"

"No. Why?"

"No reason," he sighed.

Nighthawk cleared a space on one of the largest tables and had them sit down. Then on the table, he laid out a series of long papers filled to the brim with notes. Pit had a hard time reading any of them, but he nodded at Nighthawk anyways. "Alright. And what does this all mean?"

"This," Nighthawk said with pride, "is everything we'll need to know!"

There was a long pause as Nighthawk looked at them, clearly pleased with his work. Finally Kaitlyn nodded. "Okay," she said slowly. "Will you explain it to us?"

Nighthawk smiled. "Of course."

He pointed to one of the largest clusters of words. "Okay, we'll start here, with Eris. As we've already established, she's the Goddess of Chaos. According to legend, her source of discord was usually her disruption of pride. She would take people's pride and use it against them. She was the one who started the Trojan War, in fact."

"I thought that was the Goddess of Love," Kaitlyn said. "Aphrodite, wasn't it?"

Nighthawk shook his head. "Humans came up with the name Aphrodite. Her real name is Symphonia, Goddess of Love, Lust, Human Passion, and a lot of other stuff we don't need to get into. Anyways, you're right that Symphonia was the reason for the Trojan War, but she needed incentive. And that incentive was the Apple of Discord."

Cedar narrowed her eyes. "The what?"

"The Apple of Discord. It was the apple thrown to the three goddesses with the words "for the fairest" written on it. It was because of this apple that Paris was chosen to judge the goddess's contest. This apple has been used all over history to start wars. So, after a while, the gods became annoyed at Eris and imprisoned her. They took her apple and chopped it into four pieces. These were given to four protectors to be taken and hidden across Earth."

"Protectors?" Pit asked. "What do you mean?"

Nighthawk smiled widely and tapped the paper. "That's where it gets interesting. The protectors were, in fact, angels. In order to hide the four angels more effectively on Earth, Lady Palutena sent nearly two hundred other angels to Earth to act as decoys, in case anyone tried to steal the apple back. The angels haven't been seen since. Either they've died off, or they've gotten really good at hiding themselves."

"So how are we supposed to find these four specific angels?" Kaitlyn asked.

"That's where we need help. Pit, you don't have the best skills when it comes to sensing magic or divine powers. Kuro would be my next choice, but he's been missing for years. So, we'll need some divine help, and fast."

"But aren't the gods all suffering from Mnemosyne being captured?"

Nighthawk nodded. "That's a very good point, and I have an answer for that. But first, a little on Mnemosyne. She's the Goddess of Memory and Languages. It's said that she invented speech, writing, and words. She was one of the first goddesses, being the daughter of Gaia and Uranus. She's also the mother of the nine muses, through Zeus, which we will _really_ not get into, but long story short, she's very important. Her most important relic is her Codex. This massive book holds all of the words ever written down, spoken, or thought up in the entire universe. Basically, it's the dictionary of all dictionaries. It's incredibly powerful."

"Does that have anything to do with memory, though?" Cedar asked.

"No, but the goddess herself is said to have been able to memorize more than anyone, indefinitely. Don't forget, before books or script was invented, everyone had to remember every story or important feature. Mnemosyne is said to remember everything from everyone all across the world and beyond. She memorized the cycle of life, the very rules of physics and the cosmos. She's practically a relic herself. So those who control her, can eventually control the rules of the universe."

There was another long pause, which Kaitlyn again broke. "Well, that's not good," she said bluntly.

"It's basically the worst thing that can ever happen to all creation," Nighthawk said with a nod. "But, due to Mnemosyne's age and power, she takes a while to get through. That's why Eris said we have a week. In that time, Mnemosyne will be weak enough to lose control completely and Eris will be able to control her abilities. We have until then to find the Apple of Discord and defeat Eris."

"I don't get it, though," Pit said slowly. "How is getting Eris' source of power back going to help us defeat her?"

"Good question," Nighthawk said. "The answer is in her sister."

"Wait…you mean Harmonia?"

"Exactly. Harmonia is Eris' twin sister, and her complete opposite. Harmonia is the Goddess of Harmony, Peace, and Concord. She's the mother of Symphonia, who as we said before is the Goddess of Love. This is because she was married to a mortal named Cadmus, who was a prince, but before they were married, they gave into their desires and Symphonia was born. Their stories are a little convoluted, because some books say that Harmonia was actually the daughter of Zeus and Electra, and others say she's a Titan, but we can look over that. Her symbol of power is her Harmony Coin. It's said to bring luck and peace to all who receive it. Basically, though, what you'll need is to bring the Apple of Discord to her. She, being Eris's opposite, can reverse the spell on the apple, and change it into the Apple of Concord. If Eris eats the apple, her powers will completely wane and should set Mnemosyne free. If we can do that, we're basically good to go. The gods will take care of the rest."

The three angels nodded at Nighthawk's explanation. Cedar shook her head for a moment. "You still didn't explain how we're going to find the angels with all the gods being completely useless."

Nighthawk nodded once again. "Well, from what I've read, I learned that Mnemosyne's memory disorders start with the most powerful gods, and go down from there. So Kaitlyn, you'll be able to remember things the longest, because you're a pure mortal. Palutena is a powerful goddess, so she was hit pretty quickly. In order to find the angels, you're going to need to see Viridi."

"Viridi?" Pit raised an eyebrow. "As in, Goddess of Nature, Viridi?"

"Yep, that Viridi. With her nature powers, she can sense living things easily. Angels give off stronger auras than mortals do, and the Apple of Discord's pieces will give off an even stronger one. She'll be able to help you find the apple and the angels."

Kaitlyn's face scrunched up in thought. "And she's not powerful enough to be feeling the full effects of the memory loss yet?"

"I hope," Nighthawk said grimly. "If she's not able to, you'll need to make her. She's the only one who can find the apple pieces."

"Then we'd better leave as soon as possible."

"Agreed." Nighthawk began to collect the books and maps again. "Pit and Kaitlyn, you'll leave at noon, so I'd suggest you start packing as soon as we're done. Cedar, I'll need you here to help me keep everything under control and to make deliveries if needed."

Pit nodded. "Will you be able to communicate with us at all?"

The dark-skinned angel gave a small smile. "I've been working on my telepathic communicating, but it drains my energy pretty quickly. I might have to find a way to get a phone so I can call you. Besides that, I'm also getting pretty good at summoning and banishing charms, and some small potions, along with hiding charms. But besides that, you guys are going to be mainly on your own."

"How are we going to know what people are people and what people are angels?" Kaitlyn asked. "I mean, besides the wings, humans and angels are a little difficult to tell apart."

"Well, Palutena put hiding charms on the angel's wings when they first went down to the surface of the Overworld. So you won't see any wings. The easiest way to tell is by their names."

Kaitlyn raised an eyebrow. "Their names?"

"All angels have very particular names, most after Overworld birds. So, you might be able to tell that way. The other way is by aura, but neither of you can sense auras. I'll see what I can do about that, but for now, just go with the names. Hopefully, Viridi will help you pinpoint the exact person, and not leave you completely abandon of locating devices. But knowing Viridi, it could be interesting."

"And we have six days left," Pit said slowly, "if Eris isn't totally messing with us."

"Ever more of a reason to leave as soon as possible," Nighthawk said, closing the last book with a slam. His gold eyes were narrowed and serious. "Pit, Kaitlyn, start packing. Cedar, I'll need you here for a moment."

Pit and Kaitlyn gave brief nods and ran from the room to the Residential District. There they separated and rushed to their own separate homes to begin preparing for their long journey.

* * *

The angels had gathered at the edge of Angel Land to wish Pit and Kaitlyn good luck. Pit was uncharacteristically serious; no hint of laughter was in his eyes or frown. The weight of the situation was starting to feel real, and his stomach turned and twisted anxiously as they waited.

Finally, the crowd parted and Nighthawk strode through. Tall and imposing, with his black-feathered wings half out, he cut an impressive figure. Without Lady Palutena able to attend due to her condition, Nighthawk was now in charge of Angel Land. He certainly looked the part. In his hands was a long staff. It stood taller than him, made of gold strands that twisted together like tree branches. At the top, the gold strands connected to hold a fire-red gem in place. Pit wondered if this was the staff he used to do magic. After all, even Lady Palutena used a staff to conduct her own powers.

Nighthawk stopped in front of them, dipping his head briefly. "We pray to the gods that your return be swift and your journey be successful." He held his staff and laid it on Pit's head for a moment, then on Kaitlyn's. "The Goddess of Light would traditionally give you her blessing at this moment. But I have no power over blessings nor probability or luck. I only let you know that we up on Angel Land, and the whole Skyworld, is here supporting you on your journey."

Pit nodded and dipped his head, Kaitlyn doing the same next to him. "We thank you for your concern and your good wishes," he said formally. "We will do all that is in our power to complete our mission and return the world to balance."

"That is all we can ask," Nighthawk said slowly. "I have a gift for you, before you go. You will spend most of your time around humans, and therefore you'll need to be hidden. Pit, your wings are not as small as they once were, and Kaitlyn, you've never had wings to cover before. That's why I made these for you." He held out his hand and dropped a single golden band into their hands. "Hiding charms have been infused into these rings. They will keep your wings hidden from mortal eyes when you wear them. They will give mortals the illusion that you are just them same as them."

The two angels took the rings and slipped them on their right ring fingers. The rings gleamed for a moment, then settled on their hands as though they had been worn for months.

"Be safe."

Pit and Kaitlyn nodded once again, and as one, unfurled their wings and took off.

* * *

**This chapter's a little more dialogue heavy than I would have liked, but I needed some serious explaining to get done. Anyhow, hopefully it cleared up a few things and maybe gave you an idea of what's to come. ****People will be happy to hear that Viridi is coming in, though probably for only one chapter. I need other things to happen, and other gods and goddesses to come in. But still, even while I was writing Grounded, I was getting requests for Viridi to come into the story. So, she'll be here soon. **

**Also, if you get the chance, please go to my profile and check out my poll :) I've been trying to figure out how people found out about Grounded in the first place, and got to following me. If you'd do that, it'd be extremely helpful.**

**As usual, I'm always happy to see reviews :) Let me know what you're thinking, and what you're excited for, and which character you're hoping most to meet! I love feedback :)**

**Also, big shoutout to my friend W0lfWarrior, who volunteered to Beta this story for me. :) He's been a HUGE help! Go and give him some love for me!**

**One last thing...I'm currently cleaning my room, buying books, and getting ready to go on vacation before I leave for college. So I'm a little busy. Expect my updates to be around 2 weeks apart, and if I get one done sooner, you're in luck :) Thanks for understanding!**

**~Pixie**


	5. Chapter 5

After about five hours of flying, the two were forced to rest. Pit knew he could have flown for at least another hour, maybe two, but Kaitlyn was obviously struggling. Her wings had started cramping up, and now were just causing her pain.

Pit wasn't sure where they were. Heck, he wasn't even sure where exactly they were going. All he had was the map that Nighthawk had given the two of them, and that was basic directions and not much more.

Kaitlyn let out a long sigh as they landed. Her wings drooped, touching the dusty ground. She sat on a nearby rock and hunched over, letting herself completely relax. Pit stood nearby, flexing his wings and stretching his arms out. Flying for any extended period of time was difficult, no matter what skill level the angel was. And Kaitlyn wasn't terribly skilled.

Kaitlyn had also set down her backpack, giving her wings ample room to recover. The weaponry on her bag clinked as it hit the ground. Pit fingered his own knives nervously. It wasn't that he didn't trust Kaitlyn with her guns. He was just more comfortable with his old-fashioned knives and bow.

The largest gun was strapped to the bottom of her backpack. The barrel folded up against the back of the rest of the gun, making it smaller and easier to transport. Kaitlyn's two pistols hung from her belt, one on either side. Pit had seen her use both of them at once, and with each gun she had attained incredible accuracy. Her weapons had been transported to Angel Land by Lady Palutena when Kaitlyn had been having trouble with archery.

"All those necessities are sure getting heavy," Kaitlyn said as she drank from her water bottle (another gift from Lady Palutena, seeing as Kaitlyn didn't retain water nearly as efficiently as other angels). She wiped at her brow and cracked her neck. She looked as though she would do anything to just collapse on her bed and sleep late into the morning. But she still managed to get to her feet and crack her back.

"So," she continued, "where are we, exactly?"

Pit pulled the map from the folds of his toga, and pointed to the line. "Somewhere along here."

Kaitlyn raised an eyebrow, giving Pit a flat look. "Geez, I never would have guessed. I meant geographically. Where are we on Earth? The Overworld?"

Pit scrunched up his face. "How should I know?! I never lived here!"

Kaitlyn grabbed the map and flattened it with a flick of her wrists. She gave Pit a dry gaze. "Seriously…?" she sighed. "Let me see…"

She scanned the map, muttering a little to herself. "Honestly, this looks a lot like Alaska or Canada. No wonder it's so cold."

Pit shrugged. "Is it that different from other places on Earth?"

"Of course! The farther north you go, the colder it gets, because it's farther away from the sun."

"Farther away from the sun?" Pit gave her a shocked look. "You can do that?"

"Did you learn anything from your time in high school?"

"That's debatable…"

Kaitlyn sighed and continued to scan the map. "Okay, according to the map, Viridi's little 'hideaway' shouldn't be too far away. If we've been flying for five hours, and we're over halfway there, then we should be there before nightfall."

"Good!" Pit said. "Viridi should set us up with some nice lodging!"

"Who is this Viridi girl anyways?" Kaitlyn asked. "You mentioned before that she was a goddess."

"Goddess of Nature," Pit clarified. "Because she understands nature and heat signals and things like that, she should be able to find the Apple of Discord's pieces because of their strong aura."

Kaitlyn nodded. "Alright. She sounds good."

Pit winced as he came to a sudden realization. "Um…one problem…she has this thing against humans…"

Kaitlyn's eyes narrowed. "Oh, so she discriminates against humans, like every other darned being in the Skyworld."

"Um…yeah…" Pit said awkwardly. He rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding Kaitlyn's smoldering eyes.

Finally, Kaitlyn let out a huff of a sigh. "Fine," she snapped. "Then I'll just have to be on my best behavior, won't I."

"That might be best."

Kaitlyn shot him a scathing glare. "Fine. Let's go. I'm ready to get back on the road."

"We're not on the road…"

"It's a figure of speech, Pit!"

"Oh, right…"

He wasn't sure what to do. They took off and continued on their way, but there was tension in the air. They hardly spoke at all for the next hour. Kaitlyn was smoldering on her own, obviously annoyed by what Pit had said. But Pit hadn't been wrong. Viridi didn't like humans. In fact, on more than one occasion, she had tried to eradicate the entire human race. Pit hoped that Kaitlyn, being part angel now, would hopefully be able to get on Viridi's good side.

But judging by her attitude at the moment, he wasn't all that confident.

The wind grew stronger as they went on, and Kaitlyn had to work even harder to keep steady on the drafts. Pit had a little trouble, but he was able to keep his wings and muscles under control. After a few minutes of Kaitlyn struggling, Pit maneuvered over to her and gently slipped his hand into hers.

Kaitlyn flinched at the touch, and looked at Pit with a nervous expression. Pit gave her a small smile. "Hey, it'll be okay."

The blonde-haired girl's hand relaxed into his and she gave a weak smile back. "Thanks, Pit."

With Pit's experience flying, he was able to balance out both of them, making it easier for Kaitlyn to fly and not get bumped around by the powerful wind. Eventually, they made to calmer winds and they flew apart again, though this time in much higher spirits.

Kaitlyn had been right about the chill. The air was much colder here than in the Skyworld. The two angels had donned pairs of white trousers, which their togas hung over, so as to keep their legs slightly warmer. Their sandal-boots were lined with wool, and they had donned a pair of thick, white jackets, which were lined with tannish fur. These kept out most of the chill, though by the time they landed, their cheeks were rosy and cold.

"Viridi's camp should be close to here," Pit murmured, pushing away bushes and branches to see what was past them.

Kaitlyn narrowed her eyes, squinting at the trees. "Is it just me, or do the trees here look weird?"

Pit followed her gaze and swallowed. He didn't know how he hadn't noticed before, but now that he was looking more closely, he agreed with Kaitlyn wholeheartedly. The trees, a variety of different species, were all oddly shaped. Their trunks twisted into shapes, some merely into spirals, other into hearts or stars. It was as though someone had turned the trees to clay and shaped them as they pleased. It was downright abnormal, and even slightly creepy.

Pit nodded slowly. "This is definitely—."

"GET DOWN!" Before Pit could do anything, he found himself tacked to the ground by Kaitlyn, who had her two pistols out and pointed at something that Pit couldn't see.

"Kaitlyn, what are you—?"

"Stay back!" Kaitlyn screamed, and Pit heard the shots that she fired. Pit hurriedly flipped onto his back, staring up at Kaitlyn.

The girl was fending off a moving tree. It was huge, with long branches for arms, and roots for legs. Its bark was split into a menacing figure and it already sported a few bullet holes from Kaitlyn's pistols. She held them up menacingly, her eyes narrow and focused. "You'd better stay back!"

The tree let out a low, guttural noise from the part in its bark. The two glowing, crystalline eyes seemed to shine with a new light, and instead of heeding Kaitlyn's words, the tree rushed at Kaitlyn. But now, behind it, stood about five other trees.

"Kaitlyn!" Pit yelled. "Stop!"

But Kaitlyn was either incredibly focused, or she just ignored Pit's words, because she started shooting. The trees roared in anger as the bullets split their bark. In some of their cases, the split bark oozed sap. The trees hardly seemed to notice, as they continued towards Kaitlyn, who was backing slowly into the underbrush.

Pit looked from her to the trees and back. "Kaitlyn, stop it!"

Kaitlyn took a step back. As soon as her foot hit the ground, vines twisted themselves out of the ground and wrapped around her leg and quickly up her body. She screamed as the thorns on the vines dug into her skin. But no matter how hard she pulled, the vines refused to budge.

She took another step back, but as vines once again wrapped around her leg, this time they cracked with electricity. Blue bolts of power rippled up Kaitlyn's body, causing her to scream in pain. Within moments, she had collapsed to the ground.

"Kaitlyn!" Pit nearly shocked himself as he touched Kaitlyn's shoulder. With so many vines digging into her skin, he wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't carry her like this, but she appeared to be breathing. "Kaitlyn, are you alright?"

"Ah, I knew I sensed a human around here!"

Pit whirled his head around. Standing on a slight uphill area nearby, looking majestic in her purples and reds, and her long bleach-blonde hair, was Viridi.

* * *

"So _she's_ the human-angel hybrid Palutena keeps talking about."

Pit nodded, watching as Kaitlyn's chest rose and fell with each breath. "Will she be okay?"

Viridi sighed, brushing back a spare strand of hair. "If humans are anything, they're hardy creatures. She'll be fine, after she gets over the shock, if you'll excuse my pun. She should wake up in a couple of hours. Until then, we'll talk." She stepped out of the tent and Pit followed.

Viridi's camp was set up in a large clearing. The trees nearly covered the sky, giving the camp the feel of a grove. The tents were more of huts, made from vines and roots. All over the clearing were animals of all kinds, which all mingled together in small groups. Pit glanced around, noticing the walking trees that had attacked him earlier. They looked at him for a moment before going back to nursing their wounds. A small pile of bullets lay next to them, obviously having been pulled out of their trunks. Pit hadn't realized how many shots Kaitlyn had fired while trying to protect him.

"Sorry about your…trees," Pit said apologetically.

Viridi's face scrunched up in a slightly annoyed expression. "They heal relatively quickly. They'll be fine. Of course, leave it to a _human_ to attack the Forces of Nature."

Her tone was bitter and angry, and Pit honestly couldn't blame her. But that still didn't make him happy about it. "Viridi, I'm sorry about the fight. Kaitlyn was trying to protect me."

"A human protecting the angel whose job is to protect humanity. The irony is immense." Viridi shot Pit a smirk of a smile.

Pit managed a small smile of his own. "Yeah, but you don't know Kaitlyn. She's stubborn and protective."

"How like a human," Viridi said. She let Pit over to two tree stumps and sat down on one, motioning for Pit to join her on the other one. "So, why are you here and what do you want?"

Pit sat where she directed and thought for a moment about how to start. "Well…um…have you…have you been having headaches or anything recently?"

Viridi shot him a curious look. "How do you know that?"

Pit let out a long breath. "Okay, here's what's going on." He explained about Mnemosyne and Eris, and how Palutena was slowly losing her mind and her powers. The goddess's eyes narrowed in thought when Pit got to the part about the Apple of Discord and the angel hosts. But she nodded when he had finished.

"So, Eris is back. That explains a few things, like the animals' behavior. And now you need her apple to get everything back to normal?"

"Before you forget anything," Pit said quickly. "In a few days, you could easily forget how to sense auras, and we need you to do that before you actually forget. Also, if you could, we'd like if you could keep the weather as pleasant as possible. Kaitlyn can't fly very well, and if we want to get to the apple pieces on time, we'll need to be as fast as we can, and that means no delays due to weather."

Viridi nodded. "I'm sure I can do at _least_ that for you. How about—." She paused, shooting a look at the hut that Kaitlyn had been in. "Oh, what now?"

* * *

Kaitlyn moaned as she opened her eyes, before quickly shutting them. She tried to lift up her hands, but found her fingers twitched every time she did so. She let out a painful breath. Her lungs felt like they would explode. She could hardly cry out.

"Thirsty?"

Kaitlyn felt something brush against her lips, which she gripped between her teeth. A straw. She sucked on the straw and greedily drank the cool, refreshing water. It was practically sweet, not like any water she had ever had even in Angel Land. It was pure and cool, and loosened her tight throat.

Slowly, she reopened her eyes. Above her stood a young woman. She had short blonde hair tipped with orange that flared out at her neck. Her face was heart-shaped and very pretty, and she had bright blue eyes. "Well, good morning!"

"V-Viridi?" Kaitlyn's voice, despite the water, came out as nearly a croak.

The girl laughed in amusement. "No way! I'll have to tell her that at some point. No, my name is Phosphora."

"Phosphora…" Kaitlyn tried to remember what Pit had told her about the gods and goddess. "Wait, the lightning girl?"

"'Lightning Girl'?" Phosphora snorted. "Really? That's how Pit remembers me? Wow, that sounds like a cheesy cartoon superhero."

Kaitlyn winced. "Oh, sorry…I'm a little bit disoriented."

"That's probably my fault," Phosphora said, looking a little guilty. "I kind of electrocuted you."

"You what?" Kaitlyn winced as she sat up, pressing a hand to her head. Her skull throbbed, and Kaitlyn could only focus so hard.

Phosphora's face scrunched up in annoyance. The more Kaitlyn looked at her, the more she realized that Phosphora didn't look like much more than an average teenage girl, save for her odd hair. But there didn't seem to be much more to her than that. "You started attacking our trees! What else was I supposed to do?"

Kaitlyn didn't like the way this conversation was going. "Hey, they started attacking me first," she said sharply, crossing her arms. "And they were sneaking up on Pit! What else was _I_ supposed to do?"

"Pit doesn't need protecting," Phosphora said with a growl. "It's you who needs protecting, _human_."

Phosphora's movements came to a dead stop as she found herself on the receiving end of a Glock 19 pistol. Kaitlyn's hand trembled in rage, and she glared at Phosphora. "I am sick and tired of being looked down upon because I'm a human," she spat. "Do you have any idea how it feels to be judged by every single god you meet? Well, I'm done with it! I'm leaving this stupid place, and don't you dare try to stop me!"

Phosphora had been a little surprised, but after a few moments, she gave Kaitlyn a dark smile. "Please, you think that dinky weapon will stop me? Time to give you a lesson on weaponry!" Phosphora's eyes closed and immediately her skin began to glow with blue electricity. Her hair snapped and cracked, and her long blue scarf began to levitate around her from the electrical energy she was making.

Kaitlyn sucked in a breath and gripped her handgun tighter. She had seen a lot of wacky, supernatural things since she had started living in the Skyworld, but electrical powers were new. She had heard Pit talk about Phosphora from time to time, but she hadn't expected this. The girl began to glow with blue electricity, beginning to levitate off the ground. Her hair and scarf stuck up on end, and her blue eyes glowed brightly.

With a yell, Phosphora's body disappeared into a huge bolt of electricity and she came charging at Kaitlyn. The angel girl grunted as she threw herself out of the way and managed a few shots at Phosphora. The electrical girl avoided them and let out a high-pitched laugh. "Is that the best you can do? You're even weaker than I thought!"

"Don't judge a book by its cover," Kaitlyn snapped. She pointed her pistols at Phosphora and let out a string of bullets, alternating between the two pistols. Phosphora managed to avoid most of the bullets, but a couple broke through her defenses and dug themselves deep into her flesh. She screeched angrily, shooting Kaitlyn a deathly glare. A shock of electricity shot out of Phosphora's hands, striking Kaitlyn in the chest. Kaitlyn yelped and her knees collapsed beneath her and she went tumbling to the ground.

Kaitlyn threw aside her pistols and grabbed at her backpack, which had been set next to the bed. She undid the strap at the bottom and unfolded her rifle, aiming at Phosphora. "Time to bring out the big guns!" She opened fire, but Phosphora was out of the hut before they could hit their mark. Kaitlyn growled underneath her breath and followed her out, holding her rifle up to her shoulder, prepared to shoot on any moment's notice.

Phosphora floated outside in the clearing. She had her hands up in a defensive position, but threw them up and shot another bolt of lightning at Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn dodged. She took a split second to aim.

"Kaitlyn!"

The girl was so surprised at the sound of her name that her gun wavered. She nearly dropped it, but held on. At that moment, Phosphora saw her opening, and another bolt of electricity was shot her way. Kaitlyn wouldn't be able to dodge that one.

A figure stepped in between them, holding up a long staff. The staff absorbed the electrical bolt, causing a flash of light to blast through the air for a moment. Kaitlyn winced and shut her eyes before opening them once again and staring at the figure in front of her.

She couldn't have been more than thirteen years old, much younger than Kaitlyn expected. She wasn't at all tall, and was actually on the shorter end. Her bleach-blonde hair was strung up in a messy side ponytail, and hung down far past her ankles. Her dress was made with fabric in the colors of pine green, orchid purple, coral pink, and rose red. She shot Kaitlyn a look, daring her with her golden eyes for Kaitlyn to move at all. Kaitlyn stayed stock still, practically holding her breath.

"Phosphora!" the girl snapped. "This is our guest! She's supposed to be treated with respect!"

The glowing blue figure landed gently on the ground and returned to normal, still looking angry. "It was her own fault!" She yelled. "She threatened me with those human weapons of hers! And she shot me with them!" Her wounds seemed to have been healed by her lightning powers, but she didn't look happy all the same.

Kaitlyn held up her rifle. "I'd shoot you again without a touch of guilt!"

The girl whirled around, holding up her hands for Kaitlyn to see. "If you do that, then I'll wrap you in vines again. So I highly suggest you _stand down_!"

Kaitlyn let out an angry sigh, but the gun was released from her grip and dropped with a thunk to the ground. The girl looked satisfied and turned back to Phosphora.

"προς θεον, Καιτλυν." Pit walked up to Kaitlyn and stood beside her, looking slightly mortified. But at the same time, his stance was one that made Kaitlyn think he was at least a little impressed.

Kaitlyn rolled her eyes. "You know I don't know Greek."

"I said, 'by the gods, Kaitlyn'. I mean, seriously, did you have to do that?"

"Hey, she insulted me," Kaitlyn snapped.

"That doesn't really give you the right to shoot at her."

"She shocked me with her electricity."

"And you _shot_ her."

Kaitlyn scrunched up her face angrily. She knew this conversation wasn't going to get anywhere, and she ultimately knew Pit was right. She shouldn't have overreacted. But she wasn't all that good at remembering _not_ to overreact until after she had done so.

The girl who had intervened turned back around. Phosphora was nowhere to be seen. "I'm sorry about Phosphora," the girl said. "She's a nice girl. She just has a couple of issues when it comes to humans."

Kaitlyn's eyes narrowed. "So I've noticed."

The girl shrugged. "I'm the same way, so I can't really blame her. Anyway, we were never introduced. My name is Viridi, Goddess of Nature." Her eyes narrowed when she looked Kaitlyn in the eye, as though daring her to say something harsh or to even attack her.

Kaitlyn managed a short bow, gritting her teeth slightly. "Kaitlyn of Angel Land."

Viridi stepped around Kaitlyn, looking her up and down. "You sure look like an angel, but your aura is giving off very human waves. I hate to admit it, but Palutena did a pretty good job." Her tone was grudging and her eyes were narrowed with critical scrutiny.

"Why the heck do you hate humans so much?" Kaitlyn said sharply. "Ever since I stepped foot in Angel Land, all I've heard is that you and just about every other divine being has a thing against humans. Why?"

Viridi threw her arm out, motioning to her camp. "Why? Because it's my job to protect the natural world and all you humans seem to do is wreck it, whether it be with your mining or gases or cars or anything else. You guys ruin the world, and someday, you'll regret it!" Viridi paused for a moment. "I mean, no insult to you, of course. We're a little bit overgeneralizing here."

"Yeah," Kaitlyn said bitterly. "A little."

Viridi waved the comment away. "Anyways, I've heard you guys are in need of some help. Pit already gave me the rundown. I'll need a world map and a little bit of time in quiet to find what I'm looking for, though." She pressed a hand to her head, grimacing. "Geez, this headache is getting stronger. I'd better get to work before I completely lose my mind." She turned away, heading to one of the larger tent-huts, before turning back to face Kaitlyn and Pit one last time. "And you two try to stay out of trouble. If I find any more of my Forces of Nature injured, you're going to be sorry." She walked off, leaving Pit and Kaitlyn alone.

There was a long pause. Pit shuffled his feet awkwardly, and Kaitlyn tried her best to avoid his gaze. Finally, Pit sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair. "Okay, what happened?"

Kaitlyn bit the inside of her cheek, trying to find a good way to explain herself. But the more she thought over it, the more she realized how irrational she had been. Why was it that she could only rationally think about situations afterwards? Her and her stupid knee-jerk reactions…

"You know what?" She said. "Nothing happened. I was being stupid. I threatened Phosphora when I shouldn't have."

Pit gave her long look. She could see the disappointment behind his gaze, and she felt all the more guilty. "I'm sorry. I know that we're here on a mission," she said quietly. She knew she could explain herself more, go into the details of the conversation that she and Phosphora had had. But to her, it sounded more like she was just coming up with excuses. So she left it at that.

She felt Pit's comforting grip on her shoulder. "Hey, it's alright. I forgive you. Though, Phosphora might be a little bit more touchy." He rubbed his hair again. He seemed to do that when he was thinking hard. "Just try not to anger any more gods on our trip. We need their help, and gods can be offended pretty easily."

Kaitlyn nodded. "I'll try."

* * *

It was nearly nightfall when Viridi finally came out of her hut. Her steps were a little unsteady, and Pit noticed that she was leaning on her staff more than usual. But a roll of paper was stuck under her arm, and that was what Pit was interested in.

She walked up to them. Pit and Kaitlyn had decided to stay close to the forest edge, and had spent the rest of the afternoon underneath a tree. This kept them at a relatively safe distance from the Forces of Nature, but gave them a good view of the camp. Viridi motioned for them to meet at a large stump, where she laid her rolls down. She laid a hand on the stump and leaned on it a little, taking a long breath. "I think I found them," she finally said. Her voice wasn't nearly as sharp as it had been earlier. Pit could tell that Mnemosyne's capture was finally starting to take a toll on her.

Viridi laid the rolls of paper down, and spread them out. They were maps, large maps. He vaguely remembered seeing ones like them when he stayed on earth. "These are maps of the Overworld," Viridi explained. "I allowed my aura sensing abilities to pinpoint areas on the map where they were the strongest. It was wasn't easy, but I think I have all of the pieces of the Apple of Discord found."

"Why was it so difficult?" Kaitlyn said. "Even if you're getting weaker, all the auras should be powerful enough to find."

"That's just it," Viridi said. "The pieces don't have equally powerful auras. Maybe they're different sizes, or they have different powers. Either way, I still managed to find where they are."

Her finger first landed in the one country that Pit actually knew, the United States of America. It was a good distance from Chicago, though. "This is where the first piece is," Viridi said. She pulled out a smaller map, a more detailed view of the area. "Specifically, it's around here." She pointed to a smaller section on the map.

Kaitlyn bent down and narrowed her eyes as she read, "Unites States Air Force Academy." She shot a look up at Viridi with an eyebrow raised. "In Colorado?"

Viridi shrugged. "How should I know? Anyways, the first one is there. It's weaker than the next one, but it's definitely one of the strongest aura in the Overworld." She pulled the map of the Air Force Academy off the table and went back to the largest map. "Anyways, the second aura is here." She pointed to a tiny speck on the map. Kaitlyn read the note next to it, and said it was called Macomb, Illinois.

"Illinois?" Pit said in excitement. "Like, where Chicago is?"

"Chicago is up here," Kaitlyn said, pointing up near a big blue section. "Macomb is a little ways away, but they're in the same state."

"That one has one of the most powerful auras," Viridi said with a nod. "The third one is the other powerful one, and it's right about here." Again, she pointed, but this time her finger moved to a completely different country.

Kaitlyn gave Viridi a questioning look. "Paris, France?"

Viridi nodded again. "Yes. The aura there is especially powerful. The last one is faint, but there's something very…odd about it." She pointed to another city, which Kaitlyn said was in Russia, a city called Moscow.

"What's so weird about it?" Pit asked.

"It's…pulsing, as though it's getting stronger. It was weak when I first sensed it, but it's getting stronger. I'd suggest getting that one last, because by that point, it might be strong enough for you to find on your own."

The two angels nodded. "So the closest place to here is the one in Colorado," Kaitlyn said. So we should go there first, then Macomb. I'm not sure how we'll get to France and Russia, though."

"Nighthawk should be able to help us there," Pit said confidently.

Viridi sighed. "I'll try to keep the weather as calm as possible for you, but I can only do so much." She rolled up the map and handed it to Pit. "Take this and be swift. From what I've heard, you only have six days left."

"We'll leave before dawn," Pit decided, taking the maps. He gave a short bow. "Thank you, Viridi."

The goddess gave a half-smile before grimacing and pressing a hand to her forehead. "You can repay me by stopping Eris. This stupid headache is getting really obnoxious!"

Pit grinned. "We'll do it."

* * *

**And three weeks later, I post my next chapter (*sighs*) Sorry about that. I've been out of town, my regular editor was out of town, and my Beta was too, so it just took me a while to get this ready for you all.**

**Okay, first of all, a little disclaimer: Most of the Greek Mythology I've been writing is actually true to myths, BUT NOT ALL OF IT! Symphonia is my own creation, because I didn't want to use Aphrodite. Harmonia never actually had a daughter named Symphonia, so please, don't tell your teacher that they're wrong and Symphonia is actually real, because she's not. Also, Harmonia and Eris were never actually siblings. They were, like, four cousins ten times removed, or something crazy like that. **

**So please, don't tell me that you're learning about Greek Mythology thanks to me, because you're probably not. If you actually want to know the true stuff, I can get you links to the websites I used (mostly Wikipedia and small mythology websites, also books). Some of the true stuff: Eris does have an Apple of Discord, Harmonia does have a Harmony Coin, Mnemosyne does have a big book where she writes down languages and memories, Harmonia is married to a mortal man, most of them have interactions with Zeus at one time or another, and a bunch of other stuff. But know that I am mixing truth with fiction and taking some liberties here.**

**Anyhow, hope you enjoyed Viridi (I know half of you have been begging for her to be in the story for a VERY long time), and thanks for reading! **

**As always, I love reviews :) Just got my first piece of anon hate mail a few days ago (for Grounded). I give it 3 stars for creativity and 2 for length. It even had a bleeped out swear word! Wow! I didn't know my work caused such rage in people :) It was about Kaitlyn, who I usually hear good things about Kaitlyn, but I guess everyone is entitled to their opinions!**

**Anyways, please review! I love reviews :)**

**~Pixie**


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